Lum Gets Grounded
by crazyjw18
Summary: After Lum discovers that her infamous electric shocks may be dangerous to Ataru's health, their relationship starts turning in a new direction.
1. Ataru's Great Plan

This was it. He was finally ready to finish the trap that he had been plotting for almost an entire week. Actual research wasn't something Ataru Moroboshi was particularly fond of, but the possible benefits were just too much. He stifled an excited giggle as he walked upstairs after his bath and sat down at his desk. Lum, the subject of his latest scheme, was quietly reading a manga in the floor nearby. She glanced up at him with a friendly smile, and Ataru forced himself to smile back.

Casually opening a magazine he'd stashed on the desk, he scanned through the pages until he found the article he had carefully picked out. He spent a few moments pretending to read it, while actually pondering excitedly over the fun to come.

Suddenly he stood up and looked down at Lum. "I'm going to go buy a drink," he stated as normally as he could.

She peered up at him excitedly. "I'll come too," she blurted quickly.

"Sheesh, I'll be right back," Ataru assured her in an exasperated tone. "I don't need you following me around like a child!"

Lum looked hurt for just a moment, and Ataru felt his first twinge of guilt. But this plan absolutely hinged on her staying in the room. He lowered his tone to a friendlier one. "Look, I'll buy you a drink too if you'll get off my back for five seconds."

Lum considered for a moment. Unsolicited offers from Darling didn't come very often, and she was loath to refuse it. Still, she was suspicious. If he wasn't back in five minutes, she was going hunting, and his reception would not be kind.

"Ok, Darling," she finally decided. She flashed him a big smile. "Just hurry back."

"Yeah, yeah," he said in a dismissive manner while waving his hand. "It's just down the street."

The second Ataru made it outside, he slowed down as much as possible. He had to give her time to get curious, after all. He glanced up at his window as he walked down the street and saw her slender silhouette watching him. Ordinarily her suspicious nature would have annoyed him to no end, but tonight he actually was up to something. He sped up his pace just a bit to get out from under her gaze faster.

* * *

As soon as Darling had disappeared into the night, Lum sighed and turned away from the window. Spying the open magazine laying on his desk, she was immediately curious. Ataru didn't often read anything other than comic mangas, let alone what looked to be an electronics magazine. Quickly scanning the page, her brow soon furrowed. She sat down and began reading the article in more detail.

Ataru, true to his word, returned a few minutes later, two cold drinks in hand. As soon as he neared the house, he forced the idiotic grin from his face and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. Entering his room, he was surprised when Lum immediately sprang on him and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I didn't know!" she wailed directly into his ear. "I'm so sorry, my poor Darling, I swear I just didn't know."

He affected a look of confusion and gently set her back on her feet. "What's wrong, Lum? What didn't you know?"

Between her sobs, she managed to choke out an explanation. "I... was reading your magazine...and it said that repeated strong electric shocks... can permanently damage Darling's heart!"

Ataru's face grew serious as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Lum." As she glanced up at him, his usual silly face reasserted itself. "There's no way a little bit of electricity could hurt me for long. Although I wouldn't mind if you laid off the zaps just a bit..." He kept smiling and kept his hopeful face up.

Lum's crying tapered off, but she still wore a look of worry on her face. "It's not worth the risk, Darling," she admonished him. "Our bodies thrive on electricity, but that article was very specific on the damage it can cause earthlings. If only I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have done it at all!"

Ataru tried to hide his great joy. This was all going exactly as he'd wanted, perhaps even better than he'd thought. "So does this mean you won't be zapping me every time you get angry?" Lum nodded contritely. He decided to push his luck. "Even if I go chasing girls?"

"Darling!" She glared at him and pushed him away. "This is serious. If you get me too angry, I might not be able to control what I do..." She looked down, refusing to meet his eyes. "I think we have more serious problem."

Deciding not to push things any further as well as genuinely wondering what she meant, Ataru took the bait. "What's that?"

"I can't really control it when I'm sleeping. I thought eventually you'd get used to the shocks, but it doesn't look like that's the case." She sniffled. "How are we supposed to live as husband and wife if we can't even sleep together?" she broke into renewed tears.

Ataru's eyes widened as he realized what she was talking about. Turning away and nervously scratching his head he replied, "Well, I guess I could just wear that insulated suit like that one time..."

But this suggestion just made Lum cry harder. "Darling! How can we be close like that?"

Ataru sat and thought a moment. That night had actually frustrated him as well. His parents had won a trip for a couple of days, and despite his best efforts he'd ended up totally alone in his room with Lum. He'd had a temporary lapse in judgment and actually been excited to sleep next to her. After all, either way she wasn't wavering on thinking they were married. To his disappointment, at the time at least, he'd had to wear a large uncomfortable suit all night to protect him from her nocturnal shocks, and couldn't even move an inch. Not an experience he really wanted to repeat.

"_What am I thinking?_" He thought angrily. "_There's no way I'm sleeping next to her again anyhow. That'll just tighten her hold on me_." Still, he couldn't help but think about her lying so close... "_No! Can't think like tha-_" He suddenly realized Lum was in front of him again, peering quizzically into his eyes.

"Darling, you were thinking about me, weren't you?" She pursed her lips and continued staring.

Ataru suddenly realized he was blushing furiously, and being caught didn't help matters. This wasn't the direction things were supposed to be heading at all. "Wha? No, of course I wasn't thinking about you," he stammered out. He crossed his arms and turned away. "I'm going to bed.

Lum dutifully retrieved his futon in silence and laid it out for him. Ataru continued staring intensely at the floor until she was done, then quickly crawled under his blanket and shut his eyes.

"Darling?"

"What is it?" Ataru curtly replied without opening his eyes.

"Good night." He heard the closet door slide closed and finally opened his eyes. His face cracked into a wide smile. Aside from that one dangerous moment, things were going just as he'd planned. Tomorrow he'd test just how firm her conviction to stop shocking him was. He stifled another giggle. This had to work better than the time he made her a deal about not losing her temper. He'd gradually accepted that just wasn't going to work. But this plan? Flawless.

* * *

Maybe it wasn't so flawless. It was almost lunchtime, and to her credit Lum hadn't zapped him a single time. That didn't mean she wasn't using her teeth and those damnable mallets, however. Ataru sighed heavily as he munched the last of his food. At least those punishments didn't hurt quite as bad. "_Everything is relative_," he told himself without much conviction. At least without her long distance attacks, she actually had to catch him first now.

He snuck a discreet glance to his left. Good, Lum wasn't watching. The only thing that bugged him more than her controlling ways was her catching him thinking about her. He kept watching her, noticing that she certainly wasn't paying attention to her book or Onsen-Mark. This in itself wasn't unusual, as he knew that she barely paid more attention to English class than he did. What was unusual was how red her eyes seemed today. Perhaps the springtime pollen was getting to her again. Or perhaps she had been crying last night more than he thought.

"_Bah_," he thought, "_Not my fault she can't control her shocks. Still, I guess I did start all this..._" He grimaced. "_No, it's not my fault! All I did was let her know the risks of those constant damned shocks_."

Returning to reality, he noticed two things right off. One was Onsen-Mark standing directly over him, the other was Lum looking his way again. He decided instantly that Onsen-Mark was the easier opponent at the moment.

"Moroboshi, for the last time, stop eating and pay attention in my class," Onsen roared.

Ataru wasn't new to this game. "Sure, sure," he agreed readily, nodding way too much.

The hapless teacher cocked an eyebrow, surprised at his worst student's way too easy surrender. What was the trick? He decided, in the interest of class to back off, just for now. "That's better, Moroboshi." He rambled back up to the front of the classroom. "Now Moroboshi, since you are paying attention, how about you read the first paragraph on page 61 for us?"

Ataru grumbled as he hastily flipped through the pages of his book. He had only fumbled through about two sentences full of nonsense before Onsen got irritated enough to stop him.

"Ataru, you're getting extra homework tonight." The teacher paused, holding his head. Why did he have to teach these particular kids? The classroom of failure indeed, between the constant arguments, warfare, and flat out abandonment of classes, they were weeks behind the curriculum. And he suspected, no he knew, what was the sole reason. Lum, Shinobu, Megane, even Mendou, they would all sit there quietly only if Moroboshi wasn't constantly stirring things up.

What's worse, he couldn't even transfer away from this hell. Other teachers wouldn't dream of switching with him, and he had even become notorious with other schools districts away. Flat out quitting was unquestionable. Teaching was in his blood, his only passion. And it was the only way he managed to have any contact at all with Sakura, the school nurse. It was mostly for her that he kept returning day after day.

* * *

To his surprise, Ataru and his classmates actually paid attention the rest of the period. Or at least pretended too, which was good enough for him. When lunch came they rushed out, and he lumbered off to eat his own pitiful lunch in private.

Ataru also headed off on his own, but that had become a regular event. All the girls tended to give him a wide berth, and most guys knew his mooching ways. Sitting behind a tree and opening his bento, he was discouraged to see the meager remains. "Mom never gives me enough," he complained to no one in particular.

"She packs plenty, Darling, you just always eat it all during class." Ataru looked up at the familiar voice; sure enough Lum was perched delicately on a branch overhead. Holding her own bento, she gently glided down and settled next to him. "Here, I'll share my lunch with you."

"Thanks, Lum," Ataru quickly muttered as he started snatching food as fast as his chopsticks could go. He was in the midst of gobbling down his newfound feast when he heard his benefactor sigh loudly. Risking a glance up, he saw Lum staring off into space, not eating at all. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, a bit of rice spraying out.

"Not really. And you really shouldn't talk with your mouth full, Darling, it's not civilized," she replied without even looking.

"You always yell at me while you're biting me," he snarkily replied. "Not that biting someone is particularly civilized either."

Lum didn't answer. She didn't even give him a frown, but just kept staring away. This wasn't good. Usually she'd have yelled at him about why she had to bite him, or make some remark about how shamelessly chasing girls was the ultimate in being uncivil. Ataru began to sweat. When Lum didn't act normal, well normal for her anyways, things usually turned out badly for him.

"Lum, are you ok?" He tentatively asked after devouring the rest of her lunch. Ataru was never one to let troubles get between him and food.

Finally looking back at him, Lum sighed again. "I'm fine." She glanced down at her lunch, noting that it was now completely empty. "You could have saved me a little," she complained with mild annoyance.

"You specifically said you weren't hungry," Ataru quickly fired back.

"That didn't mean eat it all!" she fired back. Ataru replied with a wide grin, glad she was back to her temperamental self. Lum, however, took it to mean that he was making fun of her. "Darling, what are you smiling about?" she said between gritted teeth.

His grin instantly changed into a look of innocence. "Nothing at all." Being happy that she was behaving normally didn't mean tempting fate. A quick escape was called for.

Glancing around quickly, he soon found that escape. "Shinobu-chan!" he cried as he jumped up and chased after his classmate. She met him with a ready elbow, planting him firmly into the ground. She attempted to continue on her way, but found her ankle firmly in Ataru's grasp.

"Ataru, let go!" she shrieked. A few mallet strikes and kicks later he complied.

Getting up a few moments later, little worse for the wear, Ataru waited for the inevitable call of "Darling!" to ring out, but none came. Then he made the mistake of looking over at the tree where Lum was sitting. He immediately wished he hadn't.

He expected the usual sparking mad oni girl he usually faced. What he got instead was a beautiful girl merely gazing at him with sad eyes. The first Ataru was well equipped to deal with. This, however, was totally unexpected. Lum's temper was legendary; even on occasions when she didn't come after him she would still be furious. Even during the 3 days when she pretended she was keeping her temper, Ataru was highly aware of her taking out her frustrations on Tomobiki as a whole.

Ataru was still trying to think of a good way to resolve this when Lum suddenly rose up and flew back inside the school without giving him another look. He was just breathing a sigh of relief when the familiar wisp of steel slicing through the air caught his attention. Instinctively he spun and caught the katana just inches from his face.

"Damn you, Moroboshi! You gutless swine!"

"What's your problem, Mendou?" Ataru deftly maneuvered the blade away from his head, and then jumped back to a relatively safe distance.

"You bastard, once again you've upset poor Lum-san." At least Mendou was his usual furious and pompous self. "Not to mention constantly bothering poor Shinobu-san."

"Well, that's rather a lot to accuse someone of, so… bye!" Ataru spun on his heels laughing, with Mendou hot on his heels. At least some people could be depended on to react normally. A few frantic loops around the school building, and he was home free. Relatively speaking of course. He still had to go back to class soon and face Mendou again. Not to mention those idiots in Megane's little troop. And even worse yet, Lum would be waiting there. He didn't know if he could stand seeing those eyes again so soon.

* * *

Ataru Moroboshi was a brave man. But even a brave man knows better to walk into his own doom. Going inside, he took a quick detour away from room 2-4 and instead headed directly for the school nurse's office. After making sure no one was watching, he quietly slipped inside.

"Oh Sakura-chan!" Ataru excitedly began as he rushed towards the resident school counselor and nurse. Then he noticed not only was Sakura not alone, but was sitting right next to the very person he didn't want to see right now. "Oh, Lum, what are you doing here?" Ataru asked lightheartedly. Darn. They didn't say he was the king of bad luck for nothing.

"Darling!" Lum seemed happy to see him, surprisingly. "You came down here because you were worried about me, didn't you?"

"Uh…" Ataru had no good answer. Either choice wasn't one he really wanted to deal with right now, but he couldn't flat out lie to her, not with her looking at him like that. "Actually, I came to see Sakura-chan. My stomach's killing me. Ohhhh…" His theatrical gestures and groaning didn't impress anyone.

"Darling, you did eat two lunches and then go running right afterwards." Lum looked slightly annoyed. "We saw you go yelling past the window at least 4 times."

"Moroboshi, does your stomach really hurt?" Sakura didn't sound very friendly right now. He nodded yes enthusiastically; the stress was starting to make his story true. "Lie down over there," she gestured toward the far bed, "and if you don't stay there and keep quiet, I'm booting you out."

"Yes, Sakura-chan." Ataru knew when he was beat, at least for the moment. He lay down quietly and pretended to be falling asleep.

"Lum, do you want to continue this talk later?" Sakura sounded much friendlier now. Ataru slightly opened his eyes and shifted around a bit until Sakura's glare transfixed him.

"No that's ok." Lum looked over at the prone Ataru. This concerns Darling after all." She paused as Ataru swallowed deeply. "I was just verifying that article of yours, Darling. Sakura says it's true, but doesn't think you've suffered any lasting effects so far."

Crap. His carefully laid plan was crashing down around his ears, and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it. Bumbling priestess or not, Sakura was the school nurse, and Lum would trust her word over his.

"But that doesn't mean you won't if I keep it up. And she's pretty sure that people can't ever build up a tolerance to shocks either. So I was trying to find out if there was some way just to suppress my electrical shocks completely."

Ataru's eyes shot wide open. The game was still afoot! Not only that, but Lum was actually going further with it than he had ever planned. His mind was so busy imaging all the girl hunting he could do with little interference that he almost missed Sakura's next words.

"Well," she began dubiously, "Uncle did tell me a while back of a ribbon he had blessed to suppress your powers for a time." She cast another withering glare back at Ataru. "But from how he said it turned out, I really doubt you'd want to trust Ataru with something like that again."

Ataru blushed heavily. He wasn't going to live that little trick down anytime soon. "No, no, that was all a misunderstanding," he began, but shut his mouth after noticing both girls staring needles at him.

"Darling, I fell out of the window because of you! I thought I was losing my powers for good, and that's not even the WORST part." Lum paused for a second to catch her breath. "That was STILL the only gift you've EVER given me!"

Reaching inside her uniform, Ataru was shocked to see Lum draw out the very same yellow ribbon. "You kept that thing? What for?" He was truly flabbergasted. After repeatedly getting shocked in revenge that night, he'd just figured it had been incinerated in the confusion after it was no where to be found.

Lum sniffed. "Even though you gave it to me just to trick me, it was still the first thing you'd given me." She looked down, noticeably blushing a bit. "And even though it was probably all just an act, it was still the first time you were nice to me. I didn't want to forget that."

Ataru was taken aback by her answer. "Lum," he called softly. Remembering just in time that Sakura was still in the room, he looked away shyly and didn't continue.

Sakura got the hint and started to excuse herself.

"Don't go, Sakura-chan!" Ataru was up and latched onto her waist before she'd moved three steps. Luckily a single punch was all she needed to leave him on the floor long enough to make her escape.

The door smoothly slid shut, leaving Ataru trapped. He glanced nervously behind him and saw that Lum was watching him intently. Normally she'd be angry over his grabbing Sakura, but yet again she seemed calm. It was very unnerving.

"Darling," she finally called, "why don't you sit down and stop looking so nervous?"

Sitting next to her was the last thing that would ease his agitation. Ataru decided to compromise and pulled Sakura's chair over near the window. Turning mostly away from her, he stared out at the late afternoon sky.

"Lum, I never apologized for that, did I?" Ataru knew he hadn't. It was one of the few schemes he honestly had felt guilty for. Most of the time he relied on trickery to outwit her, but not by playing with her feelings like that. It had been early in their relationship when he still actually resented her presence, and even then he had felt sorry for her, though not enough to abandon the scheme.

"No, Darling, you never did." Lum's words were tinged with a touch of sadness. "But you never tried anything like that again either." She paused for several long minutes as Ataru continued to sweat. "You know, I considered not coming back after that."

Ataru whipped his head around to stare at her. He affected his usual idiotic grin and quipped, "What made you stay?" He regretted his choice of words as soon as they left his mouth. At the time, he would have rejoiced at coming so close to getting rid of her. Now, after all they'd been through together, he knew he couldn't bear losing her.

"Darling, you really are an idiot, you know that?" Lum stood up. "You know how I feel about you." She slowly walked over to him. "But if you did something like that to me again, I don't know if I could still make the same decision." She placed her hand on his shoulder, noticing him jump slightly and look away again. "I lost a lot of my trust in you that day. Until then, I always thought it was just a matter of time until you recognized that I was your wife."

The guilt was piling on faster and faster. Ataru tried to think of something to say, some way to get out of this uncomfortable conversation, but for once his mind was running on empty. He finally decided silence was probably his best friend at this point.

The minutes ticked on. Lum finally decided that waiting for Darling to say anything was a waste of time. He was always so stubborn. Or shy, she honestly wasn't sure which at this point. Either way it was annoying.

Finally she decided to take the plunge. "Here," she said, grabbing his hand briefly.

Ataru looked down confused at the long ribbon she had pressed into his hand. What game was she playing now? He looked up and saw her staring expectantly at him.

"Well?" she finally asked.

"Well what?" Ataru shot back, utterly confused and on the verge of exasperation.

"Give me a present, Darling. And this time, do it sincerely," she warned, an edge back in her voice.

Ataru stared down at the ribbon, still confused. Lum turned away and knelt down in front of him, her small horns in easy reach. He finally realized what she was offering him. Knowing full well that only he would be able to untie the ribbon, she was actually giving him the choice.

This was perhaps the hardest decision he'd ever made, but paradoxically, he knew there was only one path he could take and live with himself. He also knew he would never have this chance again.

* * *

Sakura pretended to stand guard outside her office, but actually was trying her hardest to hear what was going on inside. What she was hearing wasn't encouraging. Lum was actually letting Ataru seal her powers? She shuddered as she thought of the havoc that a fully unleashed Ataru would wreak upon the town.

Busy thinking about the carnage, she almost fell through the door when it suddenly slid open behind her. She was surprised to see Lum drift past with a wave, followed more quickly by Ataru.

"Sakura-chan! Did you miss me?" He was clinging to her again. She shuddered, then broke loose, knocking him down the hall.

"Get away from me!" she shouted harshly at him. She then caught sight of Lum, floating over to her fallen Darling. Confused, she noticed a bit of yellow ribbon peeking out of Lum's hair.

"Lum, doesn't that ribbon seal away your power to fly too?" Sakura asked tentatively.

Lum looked around happily. "Yes, but only if it's tied around my horns." She twirled around, showing Sakura that Ataru had merely looped it around her hair and finished it with a single cute bow.

"What's the point of wearing it then?" Sakura was starting to get irritable now.

"Darling gave it to me!" She turned around. "Darling, where'd you go?"

Sakura watched Lum zoom out of sight in hunt of her errant husband. "Maybe there's some hope for that fool after all."

* * *

* * *

Just a couple of important notes. As far as fitting this story'stimeline to the show, don't worry about it too much. The show seemed to stretch out Ataru's second year of highschool indefinitely. This story begins in mid spring of that year, not too long after the events in the fifth movie.

As for the school calendar, assume vacation and holidays to follow the Japanese dates as closely as possible, but the semesters follow the American system, where summer vacation will mark the end of the their second year of highschool. 


	2. A Yellow Ribbon

By the time Lum and Ataru had returned to class, the final period was almost over. Ataru settled into his seat, well aware of the angry looks coming his way from all around. He sighed. No matter if he upset Lum or showed up with her smiling, he couldn't please his obsessed classmates.

Thinking about it a moment, he realized that keeping the status quo was really the only thing they were interested in. As it were, Lum was generally happy just to be near him. If he tipped the scales in either direction, either towards showing her more attention or ignoring her, that's when he'd inevitably attract bad attention.

"_Damn it_," he thought. "_I'm sick of walking a thin line for everyone else_." He'd feel more sympathetic to his classmates if he thought they had pure intentions, but he knew exactly why most everyone around him was interested in his relationship. The girls knew that as long as Lum stayed with Ataru, she wasn't active competition for the heart of the heir to the Mendou fortune. Most of the guys in the class, including Mendou, wouldn't sit idly by while Lum's feelings were hurt, but on the other hand they fervently wished for her to give up on her lecherous Darling. Therefore he was practically forbidden from showing her the least bit of favor.

Frankly, he was very sick of the little game they'd had going on for well almost two years now. It interfered with both his girl chasing and any chances of a real relationship with Lum. The latter he felt almost grateful for at times, but occasionally it would be a huge pain. He idly wondered where they would be if Lum was just an ordinary girl, but he honestly couldn't say. He couldn't deny to himself that he felt a lot for her, but it was dampened by his hatred of her jealous nature and bad temper.

Not that Shinobu had been much different. He'd gotten her riled up many times in the past before Lum arrived. But he'd actually had a fairly good relationship with her up till then. She chewed him out when he strayed, he promised she was the only one for him, and they'd repeat the cycle over again. Once Lum arrived, however, Shinobu's lack of faith in him had hurt deeply. By the time Mendou showed up and grabbed her attention, Ataru already knew they had drifted too far apart.

At first this had built up a large amount of resentment towards his new "wife". Not only had she broken up his pretty comfortable relationship, she had barged her way into living in his room, made him the perpetual target of his classmates, and even turned his innocent girl chasing expeditions into a drawn out battle. Not to mention she was far too clingy and demanding.

Even though he could shamelessly ask a hundred women for their phone number, once Ataru actually got involved with a girl, he was actually extremely shy, so public affection was something he was just not prepared for. He suspected this was mostly due to his habits preventing him from actually getting that far with a girl.

* * *

As the class dismissed, Ataru was roused from his musings. "Here we go," he thought, preparing himself for the assault no doubt coming his way. Grabbing his bag, he started to rise, only to be roughly pushed back down in his seat. 

"Megane, I presume," Ataru quipped without looking back. A steel blade slid smoothly before his face. He put on his biggest smile and glanced up. "And Mendou too! What's the occasion?"

"Are you bothering Darling?" Lum didn't sound pleased. In fact, she sounded like her hot temper was about to flare up again.

"We're merely here to uphold your honor, Lum-san," Mendou smoothly answered. " Moroboshi, what were you doing with Lum to make her so late?"

"Yes, Ataru, what were you doing with our beloved Lum-chan?" Megane sounded almost frantic to know.

Knowing that he was going to get it no matter what answer he gave, Ataru quickly came up with the one that would piss them off the most. Adapting his most serious face, he replied, "What do you think a young couple does when they skip class together?"

Enraged, Mendou slashed at Ataru, who barely had time to catch the blade in his teeth. Grimacing, Ataru felt himself being pulled back by Megane. He suddenly released the blade, sending Mendou reeling back at the same time that he crashed backwards in his chair. Megane's foot was just crashing down on his face when Ataru heard a loud slap ring out above him.

"Lum-chan!" Megane stuttered, utterly shocked. Lum often threw things or zapped them, but her actually striking anyone was almost unheard of.

Ataru managed to somewhat look up, only to see the oni girl hovering over him with a furious expression on her face. Seeing that expression not directed at him was rare.

"I've told you before, I'm not going to let you hurt Darling," Lum growled.

"Lum-san, we were only trying to protect you from this miscreant," Mendou began patiently explaining.

"What is wrong with you two?" Lum sounded even angrier now. "For the last time, I don't need your protection. Least of all from my own husband!"

Megane stumbled back, finally taking his foot from Ataru's bruised mug. As he fell back, he caught sight of a snatch of yellow showing in her abundant green hair, and immediately recognized it. Remembering the last time he'd seen that ribbon, her violent defense of Ataru and the fact that no sparks were flying suddenly made sense. Ataru must be using that ribbon to control her again. Perhaps the bastard was even was controlling her thoughts this time. Circling around while Mendou had her attention, he managed to get close enough to grab one end of the ribbon and yank it loose.

Waving it like a captured flag, Megane jumped back and proclaimed, "So this was what that scoundrel was up to! Don't worry, Lum-chan, we won't let him put this on you again." Megane grinned even bigger as crackles of electricity filled the air around Lum. Seeing tears begin to fill her eyes, he glared down at Ataru, still on the floor. Surely that scum would get what was coming to him now.

Ataru, however, only had his eyes on Lum. He sighed. So much for going a whole day without being shocked. There was no way he could avoid this blast, not with Lum this angry. Just as he was closing his eyes and tensing for the shock, he felt the prickling sensation slowly subside. He glanced up, surprised to see her taking control again.

Suddenly she snapped. "Give it back!" she cried out, lunging forward with her hand outstretched.

Megane, totally confused, backed up even further. Was Atari still controlling her somehow? That she honestly wanted the cursed ribbon back didn't even occur to his racing mind.

A quick blow to the back of his head stopped Megane's thoughts completely. Reaching around, Ryuunosuke calmly snatched the ribbon from his limp hand as he collapsed.

"Ryuu-chan!" Ataru was upon her in a second. Professionally sidestepping him, she grabbed his arm and rammed him straight into the back wall.

"Jeez, get away from me!" she shouted at his back. As Ataru quietly sunk to the floor, Ryuunosuke turned back to the grateful Lum. "Here ya go." Tossing the ribbon over to Lum's eager hands, the tomboy slung her bag over her shoulder and made her exit before Ataru could recover.

* * *

Surprised by Lum's unusually harsh defense of Ataru, no one else attempted to bother the couple as they left the school grounds. Megane was still sitting stunned in the back of the classroom after they left, surrounded by his fellow Stormtroopers. Mendou, having somewhat better judgment, decided to bow out around the time Ryuunosuke got involved. 

Cradling her precious ribbon close to her chest, Lum was quiet as she hovered a few inches away from Ataru's shoulder. He risked a quick peek at her face, luckily without her noticing. She wasn't happy, that much was clear. Considering his failed rush at Ryuunosuke, he was a bit nervous about saying anything that would attract attention to himself. Even if she was doing a good job of not using her electric attacks, his shoulders were still covered in tooth marks from that morning.

As they passed the abandoned construction site Cherry had taken to camping in, he kept a sharp lookout for the diminutive monk. Ataru wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with any foretelling of bad luck today, and was already planning on clobbering the monk the moment he appeared. Cherry, however, was nowhere to be seen. Even Kotatsuneko was conspicuously absent.

They continued on, soon arriving back home. After briefly greeting his mother, Ataru plodded upstairs, trailed by the still silent Lum. Grabbing a nearby manga, he lay down on the floor and pretended to read. Lum watched him a moment or two, then settled down nearby. He noticed she looked a bit sleepy now.

"_Well_," he thought, "_this day didn't exactly go as I planned. Stupid Megane, if he hadn't gotten Lum so mad, I probably could have slipped away after school_." After she hadn't even scolded him for latching on to Sakura and Ryuunosuke, Ataru hadn't even seriously considered trying to ditch Lum on the way home. Over the last few months he'd discovered that if Lum wasn't acting normal, going beyond the warm greetings he reserved for his usual girls wasn't a wise course of action.

"_So that's only 3 girls I've asked out today,"_ Ataru mentally noted. "_And not even a single number for the trouble."_ He hadn't even gotten any names in his notebook. He sighed, a bit louder than he meant to. "_That's a whole day shot_."

"Are you ok, Darling?" Lum asked quietly. "You aren't feeling bad, are you?"

"No, no, I'm just fine," Ataru replied, trying to sound annoyed. "I'm just trying to read in peace." With Lum acting funny, it was best just to act normal.

Now that the silence was broken, however, it seemed Lum was ready to talk some. That was a good sign, he hoped.

"Darling," she began again, this time in a warmer voice. He knew that voice; it was the one she used when she wanted something.

"What now?" he replied as disinterestedly as he could. He concentrated hard on his comic, refusing to look up. Maybe if he could get her irritated enough, she'd snap back to her usual self.

To his surprise, instead of asking him for anything, she merely crawled up next to him and lay down. Very aware of her body pressed up against his side, Ataru gulped. What was she up to now? He stared straight ahead at his manga, trying to ignore her.

Lum snuggled a bit closer. Darling was pretending not to notice her, but she could tell he was getting nervous. She smiled. Once he would have leapt up, or worse shoved her away. From much trial and error she knew as long as she didn't get him too nervous, he'd likely not move away.

"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Moroboshi called up towards her son's room. There was no response. "Ataru?" She called again. Things had been unusually quiet up there for the last hour or so. Venturing upstairs, she peeked in, only to be greeted by an uncharacteristically cute scene from her troublesome son. Lum was cuddled up close to Ataru's side, and both appeared sound asleep. Such a rare site it was that she decided to leave them in peace.

They were just finishing dinner when the familiar sound of Ataru yelling rang out through the house. Ataru's father glanced up for a moment, and then buried himself back behind his newspaper. His mother merely sighed. At least they'd had one peaceful dinner to themselves. The familiar scent of ozone soon wafted downstairs.

* * *

Ataru found himself suddenly awake, shaking from the familiar sensation of being electrocuted. Lum had retreated several feet away and was already sobbing heavily. Muddled from sleep and the sudden shock, it was a moment before he realized they had accidentally fallen asleep together. Lum must have just zapped him while unconscious. 

"L-L-Lum," he croaked out painfully.

She leapt upon him, smothering him in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Darling."

She kept sobbing as she held him close. Ataru tensed up for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her back. He gave her a gentle squeeze, and then gently pushed her back.

"Lum," he tried again. She looked down, refusing to meet his eyes. "Look at me."

Lum looked up, guilt twisting her beautiful face. "I'm sorry," she softly repeated.

He adopted his goofiest face. "I'm just fine, see?" He waved his hand back and forth before his face. "It was just an accident, right?"

"I swear it was," she earnestly sobbed out while nodding furiously. "I was having a wonderful dream and it just happened."

"Don't worry about it then." Ataru glanced out the window and was shocked to see that it was already dark out. Yawning, he stood up. Offering his hand to her, he helped her up. "Let's go see if they saved any dinner for us."

Lum nodded, wiping away her tears. She slipped her arm around his, pulling herself close to him. "You're so nice to me, Darling."

Ataru grimaced. Like he didn't feel guilty enough already for this whole mess. Up until she had read that article, Lum had always apologized when she accidentally fried him, but always in a slightly embarrassed manner. It was something she previously didn't appear to think twice about.

They emerged downstairs, where his mother was setting out their plates. "You'll have to have leftovers, Ataru," she admonished him. Seeing Lum's sad face and Ataru's hair still slightly frizzed, she figured he must have ruined their nice nap somehow. She softly sighed. Was her loveable idiot of a son ever going to grow up?

* * *

As they got ready to go to sleep that night, Lum kept glancing furtively over at Ataru. He wasn't paying much attention, so he didn't notice when she threw two pillows on the large futon instead of the usual one. Turning around, he was flustered to see her stripped down to her usual tiger bikini and sitting on his futon. 

"Lum, what are you thinking?" he demanded. "You sleep in the closet."

"Please, Darling," she pleaded, batting her long eyelashes at him. She looked up at him with a pout on her face. "I don't want to be alone tonight."

"Tough!" he insisted. "You aren't going to get your way this time. There's no way I'm going to wear that stupid insulated suit again. Plus my parents are home!"

"Darling, your parents don't care in the least," Lum answered confidently. "In fact, your mother has asked me before when I was going to stop sleeping in that closet."

Ataru blushed. What kind of conversations did they have when he wasn't around? "That doesn't matter. It's still not happening." There. He'd put his foot down.

Lum wasn't ready to back down yet. She stood up and walked over to him, pinning him against the desk. "Here." She thrust her hand in his face, offering him her ribbon. "Tie this around my horns."

He gulped. "You won't be able to fly if I do that." He had her now. No way she'd risk that, just to have her way.

"I don't need to fly when I'm sleeping, Darling." She seemed prepared for his every argument. "You'll just have to untie it in the morning for me." She flashed him a big toothy smile and batted her eyelashes. "Won't you?"

Ataru swallowed again. She had him. Her comment earlier about not trusting him after the original ribbon incident had bothered him more than he would have thought. Yet here she was again, giving him her complete trust for the second time that day. Could he really afford to turn these chances away? Especially with Lum as upset as she had been today?

Making up his mind, he snatched the ribbon from her hand. She clapped her hands, excited that he was giving in. Kneeling on the floor, Lum giggled as he deftly tied the ribbon in twin bows around her horns.

Throwing back the single blanket, she slid underneath and patted the futon next to her. Ataru slowly approached as he tried to remain calm. This wasn't the first time they'd slept together, after all. There was the time when Lum had been shrunk and slept on his pillow, and of course the time when he'd worn that awful suit. Never had they slept like this, though.

He crawled into bed, careful not to get too close to Lum's side. Once in, he pulled up the blanket and turned his face away from her. This wasn't so bad. As long as she stayed over there, and he stayed here, it was fine. He closed his eyes, trying to will his racing heart to calm down.

A slender hand gently brushing up his back destroyed all hopes of that. Ataru shivered from the touch. Feeling Lum making herself cozy against his back, Ataru opened his mouth to complain, but a finger pressed firmly over his mouth stopped him short.

"Shhhh, my Darling," Lum murmured close to his ear. "Just let me stay like this. I've dreamed of this for so long." She took her finger from his lips and found his hand, firmly intertwining their fingers."

Lying there, utterly terrified, Ataru didn't dare move. Eventually he felt her breathing slow down as she drifted into sleep. Only then did he give her hand a gentle squeeze and try to sleep himself. Listening to her steady breathing and feeling her warm presence, it wasn't long before he had surrendered to sleep as well.

* * *

The morning sun streaming through the windows finally woke him up. Ataru blinked, still groggy from his pleasant dreams. Starting to stretch, he tried to move his arm but felt something pulling it down. Seeing a delicate arm draped over top of his, the events of the night before started slowly coming back to him. 

A pair of lips barely brushed the back of his neck. "Good morning, Darling," a sleepy voice whispered behind him.

Ataru scrambled up, his face red. Lum stared up at him with half lidded eyes. Opening her mouth, she let out a tiny yawn and stretched before joining him.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked, peering closely into his eyes.

"Fine," he answered absently.

"I don't think I've ever slept that well, Darling," she replied happily. "That was much better than that stuffy closet."

"This isn't going to be a nightly event or anything," Ataru shot back at her. "What would people say if they knew two high school students were sharing a futon?"

"Probably the same things they say now," Lum gently reminded him. "Rumors have been flying around about us ever since I moved in."

Ataru gulped. It'd once taken hours of failed interrogations before the Stormtroopers had given up on making him admit that they shared anything more than a room. He snorted and turned to look out the window. It looked like it was going to be a nice and warm spring day outside. A perfect Saturday for asking girls out.

"Darling?" Seeing that she had his attention again, Lum bent down and pointed at the ribbon. "Could you help me tie my hair up again?"

Ataru stared at the yellow bows. If he ran off now, Lum would have no chance of catching him. He'd have the entire day to chase girls to his heart's content. It was everything he wanted, right? Then why on earth were his hands steadily moving towards her head?

He reached out and pulled the ends of the ribbon gently, causing the twin bows to unravel. Then, looping it around her long hair, he tied the ribbon back in a single bow, much like the one she had worn yesterday. He stepped back to admire his work. Lum really did look cute with it on, he mused to himself.

"Thank you," Lum chirped merrily. "Now, what do you want to do today?"

Ataru looked at her suspiciously, but there was only honest curiosity in her eyes. Once again he felt that damnable twinge of guilt. This would be much easier if Lum would just demand they go do something. Then his irritation at her attempts to control him could flare up and there'd be no guilt at all. Well, not enough to bother him, at least.

"I dunno," He answered while crossing his arms behind his head and looking outside. "Maybe I'll just take a quiet walk in the park."

"Darling, you aren't going to go chasing girls all day, are you?" Lum asked, the usual edge back in her voice.

Ataru almost sighed in relief. This aspect of Lum was familiar. He knew how to handle her when she was trying to stop him.

"Of course not," he said blithely as he turned back to her. "I just want some fresh air." He was almost home free. "Don't you trust me?" Crap, he shouldn't be bringing up trust now. It could still be a touchy subject.

"Not about this, Darling," Lum snapped back. "You aren't going without me."

Rolling his eyes, Ataru answered her in his most annoyed voice. "Fine. Get dressed, and I'll meet you downstairs." He grabbed a change of clothes and left the room.

Lum stared after him for a moment. Darling was obviously up to his usual tricks, but he seemed much more subdued about it than was normal. She smiled, remembering their conversation the day before. She had admitted she had lost her trust in him after he had tricked her with the ribbon, but she hadn't told him that she had regained more faith in him than ever over the last year.

It had started with their dates. Compared to the struggle she'd gone through to get him to agree to the first one, it'd been much easier to convince him to go on the next few. Living in her UFO for three weeks had been a brilliant idea.

While Ataru wouldn't openly admit he missed her, he'd hinted around quite a bit that she was being difficult. Once she'd gotten him to go on three more dates with her, she gladly returned. It might have been a good plan, but it was lonely sleeping up there all by herself. She'd hid her excitement to be moving back in well.

They'd had quite a few dates since then, though they often weren't official ones. Even more telling than the dates, however, was observing how Darling reacted whenever he thought she was in trouble. Every single time he'd risked life and limb to rescue her. And though he still refused to tell her he loved her, even with the earth itself at stake, there was no doubt in her mind how he felt.

Finishing slipping on a pair of slacks and a cute shirt, Lum glanced out the window. It really was a beautiful day for a walk. If only Darling wasn't so fickle…


	3. Struggling to Shine Brightly

As expected, Lum caught Ataru halfway out the door without her. Gliding down from their balcony, she landed right in front of him.

"Ready to go, Darling?" she asked, as if nothing was wrong.

Ataru pulled back. "Oh, Lum, I was just waiting for you!" he replied sheepishly.

She grabbed his arm. "Come on Darling, let's go." Half dragging him out to the street, she caught him already checking out a passing woman. It was obviously going to be one of those days, but if she could just keep him in check, they might have a pleasant date regardless.

Passing by the abandoned construction site, Ataru noted that Kotatsuneko was back. The giant ghost cat waved amiably in their direction before returning to smoking his pipe in silence. Perhaps he was bored between Cherry's absence and Ten off visiting his home planet.

"Hey, Lum, when's Jariten supposed to be back?" Ataru suddenly inquired.

"Oh, he's due back Monday, I think," Lum replied. She put her finger to her chin. "That means we've got the room all to ourselves for another two nights at least!"

"Hey, don't say stuff like that in public," he snapped back. He looked around to make sure no one had been listening. "Maybe we should invite Kotatsuneko to stay the night," he idly suggested.

One of Lum's eyebrows rose a bit. "This is the first time you've actually wanted him around." She looked past Ataru. "I don't think you should worry though, he's got Cherry to hang out with."

"I haven't seen Cherry at all in a couple days," Ataru stated, following her gaze. "AH!"

The frightful monk was right next to him, using his ridiculous stilts to look Ataru right in the eyes.

"Hello, Ataru" Cherry flatly said, raising his hand in greeting. "I see dark-"

The rest of his sentence remained unspoken, interrupted by a backhanded swat that sent him sailing over the fence. He stood up, making a protective gesture at the couple's swiftly leaving backs. "Such is their fate, after all," Cherry sighed. No one ever seemed to take his advice, but then again there were more important things to worry about than Moroboshi's unlucky omens.

The tiny monk turned to Kotatsuneko. "What shall we have for lunch?"

* * *

Even from her vantage point some thirty feet off the ground, Lum wasn't having any luck spotting her errant husband. She growled softly as she scanned the crowd milling about pathways of the park below. Up until a few minutes ago she'd been having fun walking the more secluded pathways with Ataru. Then she had made the mistake of letting go of his arm for a moment, and he had silently slipped away. 

Lum sighed heavily. This was a game Darling was well practiced at. He wouldn't be trying to hide in the crowds while she was still in the area. Knowing her aerial advantage would enable her to pick him out quickly, he'd first take refuge amongst the trees and under bushes until she had moved on. Only then would he dare emerge to seek dates.

Her only viable tactic was to give up the high ground and try to mix into the crowd herself. It wasn't especially hard to track him via the procession of outraged girls that would soon start appearing, but it was slower and infinitely more infuriating.

Going home without him wasn't even an option, no matter how frustrating this game could get. Aside from the disgrace to their marriage his girl chasing was, she knew Darling would keep searching until exhaustion or hunger drove him back home. His single-mindedness in the pursuit of women had amazed her early in their relationship.

As time went on, she realized that while he'd always been this way, it was actually getting worse the longer they were together. Lum had originally chalked this increase up to spite until a conversation with Shinobu had changed her views on the matter. It turned out that during the brief times Ataru thought Lum was gone and not coming back, he'd actually ceased girl hunting altogether. He seemed to lose interest in his pursuits without her presence.

While he undeniably enjoyed the game of trying to get phone numbers, he actually seemed to enjoy the dangerous game of cat and mouse they played much more. It was almost an unspoken agreement between the two that she wouldn't stop searching until he was either punished or recaptured. The few times she had given up, he'd returned very subdued, almost looking disappointed.

After flying a safe distance away from the spot she'd last seen Darling, Lum dropped down to a busy path and starting walking. Sure enough within five minutes a shriek sounded from the south. Lum kept going. He would strike only randomly until he was sure she wasn't watching him. She wasn't surprised when the next yells came from the eastern side of the park.

After a few more random outliers, she began to hear more and more comments concerning a brash high school student from people heading north. A few even recognized him as the infamous Ataru Moroboshi. She headed south as stealthily as she could, making sure to blend into the crowds. A smile flashed across her face. Though she'd much rather be having a nice time with her Darling next to her, she couldn't really say she didn't occasionally enjoy hunting him as well.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Lum, she was also being stealthily hunted. Spread out across the park, Chibi, Perm, and Kakugari had been dispatched to observe and relay both her and Ataru's actions back to their obsessive leader, Megane. 

"Report," Megane calmly commanded Chibi, the first to return.

"I found Lum, sir. She's heading towards the south side of the park on foot."

"And the ribbon?"

"It was tied around her hair, just like yesterday," Chibi noted.

Megane frowned. He still didn't understand what kind of hold Ataru had over his beloved idol. Interrogation of Cherry, the ribbon's creator, had revealed nothing. He claimed not to have been involved since the first incident, and could only confirm that it should have no powers unless tied specifically to the oni's horns.

Seeing Kakugari returning, he perked up. "Did you find Moroboshi?"

"Yep, he's busily seeking addresses in the southern sector," Kakugari promptly reported.

"Any suspicious behavior?" Megane knew Ataru would be taking every advantage of his control of Lum.

"Nothing notable. He appears to be keeping a watchful eye out for Lum though." Kakugari shrugged. This wasn't really an interesting mission, but he wasn't going to desert Megane after all these years. Plus he would have felt bad for abandoning Chibi to do all the surveillance work.

Megane softly cursed. If Ataru was truly on the look out for interference, then he would be much harder to capture. But against four determined people, Ataru could not hope to escape for long.

"Where's Perm?" he suddenly demanded. The fourth Stormtrooper's job had been to scout around the park and make sure no outside forces were in play, such as a rampaging Rei, or any of the other weird creatures Ataru's presence seemed to invite. His sweep should have ended several minutes ago by their leader's calculations.

Chibi looked worried. "I haven't seen him, I swear!"

Kakugari shook his head as well. Perm apparently hadn't crossed either of their paths.

"I don't like this," Megane declared. "If he's deserted the cause, then he'll be dealt with as a traitor after the mission." He paused and slid his glasses up menacingly. "For now we have to follow the plan and get Ataru somewhere more…private."

* * *

"Ataru!" someone hissed urgently from the bushes nearby. 

Ataru looked over, still annoyed that his latest attempt at securing a date had failed. "Perm, is that you?"

A hand reached out and forcibly pulled him down into the bushes. As he had suspected, it was indeed the curly haired member of Lum's Stormtroopers.

"Ataru," Perm began seriously. "You've got to get out of the park immediately. Megane and the others are coming for you, and it's not going to be pretty."

Ataru frowned. "What's old four-eye's problem today?" he asked irritably.

"He's nuts, Ataru. He's convinced you're controlling Lum's mind with that ribbon she keeps wearing." Perm paused. "I won't be able to help if he gets a hold of you."

Ataru's face grew suspicious. "So why are you telling me this? Aren't you sworn to follow Megane?"

Perm shrugged guiltily. "We are sworn loyal to Lum first and foremost, and I don't think anything's wrong with her. Much as I hate to admit it, I think you're innocent this time." He gave Ataru a comrade's pat on the shoulder. "We've been friends for as long as I can remember, Ataru. Loyalties like that go deeper than loyalties to a mere commander."

Ataru smiled. "Thanks Perm, I won't forget this." He stood, about to leave, then stopped. "If you see Lum, tell her I'm heading over to Sakura's shrine for the rest of the afternoon."

"Will do," Perm promised. "Now hurry up, they'll have noticed my absence by now."

As Ataru fled towards the exit to the park, Perm started walking back towards the park center, where he hoped Megane would still be awaiting his report. Perhaps he could blame the delay on one of Ran's escapades. Unfortunately he'd only made it a short distance when he found himself face to face with his enraged leader.

"Where have you been?" Megane demanded. "And have you seen Moroboshi?"

"No sign of him," Perm reported solemnly.

"Well, keep looking, he's supposed to be in this area!" Megane hissed. "And I expect a full report of what held you up after this is up."

"Roger," Perm replied with a brisk salute while mentally sighing in relief. That had been a close one.

* * *

Lum arrived at the southern end of the park, slightly worried. Not only had no more girls come complaining from this end of the park, no one had mentioned seeing Darling in quite a while. Flitting up to a handy tree branch, she settled down to rest for a few moments. 

She noticed Kakugari and Chibi first. The nearly inseparable pair appeared to be engrossed in searching the thick bushes around the area. Soon she spied Perm halfheartedly patrolling the paths. And then, as expected, Megane appeared, nervously stalking around like a madman. Lum narrowed her eyes, still upset over the incident the day before.

After a few minutes they gathered together and Megane appeared to begin one of his stoic speeches. She couldn't hear what he was talking about, but he eventually grew loud enough that she caught the name Ataru amongst his ranting. The group soon split up and each member went in his own direction. Lum decided to follow Perm, in her opinion the most trustworthy of the team.

Waiting until he was alone, she landed softly behind him. "Are you planning to do something nasty to Darling?" she asked, a hard edge to her voice.

"Lum!" Perm softly exclaimed. He turned around, looking at her with a critical eye. "Before I say anything, can you answer me something?"

"What's that," she asked with a slightly less harsh tone. After all, she liked Perm pretty well, and he had even gone on a few double dates with Darling and her.

"Why are you wearing that ribbon?" he inquired directly.

She looked happy at the question. "Because Darling gave it to me as a gift. Isn't it cute?"

Perm blushed and looked down. "So it's definitely not being used to control you, is it? You can still use all your powers and think straight, right?"

"Of course I can," she replied, a tone edging back into her voice. "This ribbon only seals my powers when it's tied to my horns."

He looked relieved. "I thought as much." He paused for a long moment. "Megane thinks Ataru's got some scheme going on with it, so we're supposed to catch him and hold an interrogations." He held up his hands in innocence as Lum started glaring again. "Don't worry, I warned Ataru, and he's gone into hiding at Sakura's place."

Lum grimaced. "Why did he go there of all places?"

Perm frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know, but he wanted me to let you know that's where he went."

Her face brightened at this news. Darling was actually being considerate, even if his destination wasn't desirable. "Thanks Perm!" She started to fly off, then turned back. "You're a good friend," she warmly added in parting.

* * *

Even flying, it took her a few minutes to reach the shrine grounds. By the time she grew close the sun was already setting in the west. She watched it sink, growing more and more irritated that the whole day was passing by so quickly. Without this interference she could have already caught and scolded Darling hours ago, and maybe even have had time to finish their nice romantic walk. 

While she knew she had the definite advantage in speed, she wasn't sure how long ago Ataru had set out. And he did move at incredible speeds when he wanted to. Likely he had already arrived, and hopefully he was still there. If Megane was serious then she needed to reach Darling and start protecting him as soon as possible.

She landed in the front porch and knocked on the door. To her surprise Tsubame answered the door. "Oh, Lum!" he greeted her warmly. "Looking for Ataru, I imagine?"

"Have you seen him," she asked eagerly. If Tsubame was here and not angry, then perhaps Darling was actually behaving himself for once.

Sakura appeared behind him. "Moroboshi was here a bit earlier," she said seriously, "but he left already."

Lum's face dropped. "Did he say where he was going?"

"Not specifically." Sakura gazed thoughtfully to the west. "But he said he was going to go watch the sunset." She paused to think for a moment, and then continued. "He seemed unusually serious aside from his usual foolishness. I think his exact words were that he was going to 'watch the sun struggle to shine until the very end', or some nonsense like that."

"That sounds about right," Tsubame agreed.

"Oh, ok." Lum replied distantly. There was something familiar about those words, but she wasn't sure why. "I guess I'll be going now, thanks for putting up with Darling."

After Lum had flown out of sight, Sakura turned to her fiancé. "Something's definitely different about Ataru lately."

He nodded his agreement. "He certainly didn't appear as clingy around you as he usually does."

She nodded. "It's possible that he's finally growing up a bit." She grabbed Tsubame's hand and led him back inside. "There's just no telling with that boy."

* * *

Lum turned Ataru's words over and over in her mind. She had heard him say something much like that once before, but she just couldn't remember when. She was nearly back home when she finally recalled the next part of his speech. "Like the sun, we must be strong." Immediately she remembered. 

Altering her path slightly, Lum flew instead to the vacant construction site down the street. Sure enough a lone figure was sitting on a large concrete pipe below, still barely illuminated by the last rays of the sun. It was there in that very spot, she recalled, that he had last spoken those words.

Silently settling down beside him, she gazed into her Darling's innocent face. He was staring absently into the darkening sky. It was a moment or two before he noticed her.

"Lum!" He jumped slightly. "Where did you come from?"

"From chasing you all over town, you idiot," she playfully replied. "I see you've managed to stay free all afternoon."

He considered her words for a moment. "Have I?" he pondered aloud. Staring back into the sky, he continued. "If you mean from Megane, I suppose I have. Otherwise, I'm not sure."

"What do you mean, Darling," she asked earnestly.

"I wonder," he absently replied, then slid off the pipe. "Come on, let's go home."

"Sure, Darling," she replied.

On their way out, they passed by Cherry's campfire, some strange stew brewing atop it. Surrounded by several stray cats, the old monk and the ghost cat waved warmly at the couple. They smiled and waved back briefly before disappearing into the night.

Cherry looked after them for a moment. "I shall pray for my friends' safety in these troubling times," he muttered, before returning to his dinner.


	4. In Good Times and Bad

The pair reached home just in time for dinner, which seemed to please Ataru's parents. However his mother was beginning to grow concerned as they finished up. Ataru had been unusually quiet, only answering questions with brief responses and not saying much anything himself. Even his appetite seemed somewhat subdued.

After he left to take his bath, Mrs. Moroboshi took Lum aside. "Is there anything wrong with Ataru? He doesn't seem himself today."

"I don't know," Lum answered sadly. "Darling seemed normal this morning, but then he disappeared all afternoon. When I finally found him this evening, he seemed troubled by something, but wouldn't tell me what."

"That's not like him," his mother replied thoughtfully. "That fool's usually yelling about it whenever something's bothering him." She laid her hand on Lum's arm. "Everything's going well between you two, isn't it?"

Lum blushed a bright red. After a moment she finally responded. "Well, I finally got Darling to spend the night with me," she confided in a whisper.

His mother nodded knowingly. "Ah… you didn't…go all the way, did you? I mean, it's not really my business if you did..." She seemed to be getting flustered.

Lum blushed even brighter. "We just slept," she shyly insisted. "Darling was a perfect gentleman."

Mrs. Moroboshi smiled at her daughter in law. "Well, that certainly may be what's got him so quiet tonight." She hugged Lum briefly. "Keep at it, dear, you might make a decent man of him yet."

* * *

Ataru tiptoed up the stairs to his room, a soda in either hand. Opening the door a crack, he saw his futon was already laid out with two pillows, just as he had feared. Sighing, he was debating with himself if he should just make a break for it when the door flew open and Lum grabbed his arm, pulling him inside. She firmly shut the door behind her as if to confirm that he was indeed trapped.

His eyes wide, Ataru considered the window for just a moment before he resigned himself to his fate. Sitting down at the desk, he wordlessly passed one soda to Lum before gulping down his own in a couple of long draughts. Setting the empty can aside, he laid his head down on the desk and stared out the glass door that led to the balcony. The night was clear and moonless, and the stars seemed innumerable. It was hard to think that he had actually been out there amongst those very stars, let alone that he had walked upon other worlds.

Before Invader had appeared, he'd had no idea there even was life on other planets. Now he seemed to be constantly surrounded by various aliens, not to mention quite a few Earth grown oddities. But by far the most troubling of these additions to his life was quietly standing behind him.

Why did he feel like this around her? He had been trying all day to reconcile the feelings he was having with how he usually thought, largely without success. He knew he was in love with the Oni princess, he admitted that in his heart long ago. But he had for so long convinced himself that she was only one of the many meant for him. Once it was a solid conviction, now it only sounded hollow and crass, even to him. Was he really still free?

Lum's hand gently ruffled his hair, breaking his concentration. "Do you want to talk about anything, Darling?" she inquired patiently.

"Lum…" He began, without looking at her. Suddenly he shook his head, as if to clear his head. Putting on his long perfected expression of annoyance, he turned to her. "Why are there two pillows on my futon?"

Lum stepped back. "I…I just thought maybe it would be nice if we-" she managed to stammer out. Taken aback by his abrupt mood change, she wasn't sure what to say. It had been such a nice evening, and he'd seemed so considerate today. All day long she'd been hoping against hope that he'd be getting more receptive to the idea.

Ataru kept his face stony. "Lum, I told you this morning this wasn't going to be a nightly event, didn't I?" He was getting ready to fly into a full-fledged rant when the tears started, stopping him in his tracks. "Lum, that isn't going to work," he said firmly. Damn. He could already feel his resistance crumbling to nothing. "Lum…" He turned his eyes back towards the window.

He kept his head turned until he felt her walk away from the desk. Damn it. One long look into those eyes and she would have him. He just couldn't look at her.

A second later he heard the closet door slide slowly open. He resisted looking back for a few seconds more, then peeked around just in time to see it closing. A delicate little hand gripping the edge was the last thing he saw before the door slid firmly shut. The extra pillow still lay on his futon, apparently abandoned.

Faced with an unexpected victory, Ataru simply sat there staring at the shut closet doors for a long moment. If this was a victory, why did it feel so lousy? He got up, irrationally angry that she had given up so easily. Switching off the light, he flopped down on top of his blanket and stared blankly at the dark ceiling.

Splaying his arms out, he tried to enjoy the feeling of having the whole futon to himself again. The extra room just seemed empty. He ran his hands slowly down the sides of the blanket.

His hand met something unfamiliar against the smooth surface of the blanket's fabric. Grabbing it, he realized it was Lum's ribbon, still neatly coiled up and waiting for him to tie it up again. He snatched it up and prepared to toss it aside. His arm stopped mid swing, and instead he brought it close to him, cradling it to his chest.

For several long minutes Ataru lay like that, clutching the precious scrap of fabric. Finally his fists tightened, the decision was made. He stood and walked steadily to his closet door. Pausing for just a moment to build up his courage, he slid it carefully open.

It was dark inside, too dark for his eyes to make out any details. Hearing muted sniffling suddenly come to a stop, he reached nervously inside. A questing hand met his, and he grasped it firmly. He heard a light gasp as he gave the hand a slight squeeze. As his eyes continued to adjust, the vague outlines of Lum's body soon emerged from the darkness.

He reached his other hand in and wrapped it around her back. With a heave he lifted, expecting effort, but almost falling backwards as she used her ability to make herself almost as light as the air. Carefully he made his way back to the futon and laid her down with great care. Ataru quickly crossed to the other side, and crawled onto the blanket. Out here in the starlit room he could see her much more clearly. She lay there almost motionless, her eyes wide with shock and confusion as he leaned over her.

It wasn't easy to tie bows in the dark, but he managed after a bit of fumbling. As he drew back, he saw a single drop of moisture slide down her already tear streaked cheek. On impulse he reached out a finger and traced the tear's path, finally resting his finger on Lum's lips.

Drawing back, he wriggled under the blanket, and after a moment felt Lum doing the same. Just as it had the night before her hand quickly found his and grasped it tightly. This time, however, he lay facing her, and he didn't flinch away at her touch. Instead Ataru scooted slightly closer, staring calmly into her wide inquisitive blue eyes that were only inches from his own.

They lay still like that for many long, never-ending minutes, until Ataru's eyes slowly started to close of their own will. Not wanting the moment to end, he futilely fought sleep for a few minutes more but eventually surrendered to the darkness.

* * *

The unfamiliar morning light shining in her eyes eventually woke Lum up. She squinted to keep out the harsh light and yawned, wondering why the closet door was open. It took her sleepy mind a moment to realize she wasn't in the closet. She opened her eyes and stared at Ataru's face, confused for a second until the memories of the night before came flooding back.

Lum dreamily remembered Darling scooping her out of the closet and gently depositing her back on his futon. She'd been so depressed when he had snapped at her. Then he had done this, the last thing she would have expected at that time. She hadn't even been able to say a word as he had stared at her, afraid that any sound would break the wonderful dream she was having. After he fell asleep she had remained awake for a long time, just watching him.

It still seemed more like a dream than reality, but the proof was still sleeping soundly in front of her, even snoring a bit. Lum reached out, almost touching his face, then stopped. It'd be a shame to risk cutting short his peaceful slumber. She shifted a bit to get into a more comfortable position, careful not to disturb Ataru.

Regardless of her care, the slight movement seemed to stir him. He opened his eyes slowly, then blinked. The first thing he saw were Lum's blue eyes staring intently into his own. Startled, he almost leapt up, then calmed down as his mind finally caught up.

"Darling," Lum whispered sweetly. "I love you."

He almost grimaced at the words, long forced habits dying hard. Instead he flashed a shy smile at her before turning his attention firmly on the ceiling. He knew he had finally crossed that invisible line this time, and there was no going back, even if he had wanted to. One corner of his mind still screamed at him to put some distance between him and the beautiful girl next to him, but that voice was becoming more and more faint.

Ataru suddenly felt the insistent yet unfamiliar urge to kiss her, but managed to squash that thought as well. Laying this close to Lum, he was highly aware of her proximity, and he wasn't sure he could satisfy himself with just a simple kiss. Finally he forced himself to merely take another look at her.

She was still watching him closely. He tried to look away, but his eyes didn't respond, trapped by her gaze. As if reading his mind, Lum broke her stare first, purposely closing her eyes. His gaze traveled down to her lips, slightly pursed and ready. He gulped, nervous thoughts filling his head.

Lum waited patiently, but was starting to get nervous herself. Was he ever going to kiss her? They had kissed a couple of times before, but it was still far from something he was comfortable doing. As seconds passed she began to panic that she was pushing him too hard.

She was just about to open her eyes when she felt Darling's lips press lightly to hers. She felt his hand cautiously slide around her back as he pulled her closer to him. After a few long seconds he broke away, but did not release her. Instead he slid his other arm around her and held her tightly. Overwhelmed, she hugged him back, tears forming in her eyes.

"Lum," he finally said, breaking the silence. "What do you like about me?"

She looked at him, startled by his question. "Darling, you know that I love you."

Ataru frowned, not satisfied by this answer. "No reason beyond that?"

"You're simply wonderful. You are kind, gentle, and one of the most good natured people I've met in my life," Lum told him earnestly. "And you don't give up when you set your mind on something either." She arched an eyebrow at him teasingly. "Though you're a bit too fickle, I can't help but love you."

He looked down for a moment, gathering his composure. "I suppose that's true," he said, looking up with a wide grin, instantly back to his usual self. "Come on, let's get dressed." He stood, pulling her up with him. "We've got school again tomorrow, so we shouldn't waste the day lying around."

"Alright," Lum agreed happily. "_Not that I would have minded spending the whole day like that_," she said to herself.

* * *

After a quiet breakfast, they headed out. Lum was surprised when Ataru offered her his arm, but quickly latched onto him tightly. Her yellow ribbon once again tied around her hair, she hovered beside him, barely clearing the ground as they went down the street. As they walked she noticed Ataru was very quiet, his face troubled once again. Lum decided not to bother him and just enjoy his company.

After a while Ataru gradually started acting normal again, his head tracking passing girls and his face erupting into lecherous grins. She continued to hold on tightly to him, unwilling to lose him for a second day. At least he seemed to have stopped thinking about whatever was bothering him.

Suddenly noticing where they were, Lum wondered exactly where they were heading. The park was in the other direction, and it appeared they were heading downtown instead. It was another of Darling's favorite girl hunting grounds, she knew, but she didn't want to believe that he was going to abandon her again. The more she thought about it, the angrier she was getting. She wrapped herself around his arm even tighter in a possessive hug, causing Ataru to look at her with an annoyed expression

"Hey, we're in public," he complained, his shyness reemerging. " Don't hang on me like that, it's embarrassing."

She looked at him warily. "Darling," she began in a warning tone. "You aren't thinking about ditching me and chasing girls again are you?"

Ataru's expression changed quickly from embarrassment to irritation when he heard her tone. Her controlling nature was easily her least attractive feature. He turned his head away from her and kept walking. "So what if I am," he muttered defiantly. "I'm a free man in the springtime of my youth."

"Darling, you're terrible!" Lum lectured him. "You should be more faithful to your loving wife."

"Maybe if my 'loving wife' trusted me a bit more, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Ataru countered angrily.

Lum glared at him. "What reason do I have to trust you?" she practically yelled in his ear.

Ataru stopped dead in his tracks. Shaking her grip loose on his arm, he shook with anger for a moment. He twice opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind and stalked off without her.

Lum stood there stunned for a few seconds. Darling was so infuriating. He pretended to love her, but then there he was, rushing off to chase girls again. Why couldn't he just stay faithful? As he disappeared out of sight, she stomped her foot and took to the air, heading for her UFO. There was no way she was going to be able to handle his girl chasing today.

* * *

Ataru sighed heavily. Another date ruined. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut, but their argumentative ways were deeply ingrained in them both. But this was different. Usually Lum would have just shocked him and the argument would have been over. He would have acted distant for a while, and she would have been happy again, if still distrustful. With Lum withholding her punishments, it seemed that their familiar little cycle was somehow broken.

They'd almost made it to his destination too, he noticed irritably. The unassuming little shop wasn't a big glamorous boutique, but within he had found exactly what he was looking for. For months now he had been saving his New Year's money and meager allowance, and today he'd decided it was time to use it. Knowing exactly what he was looking for, he made his purchase quickly and exited the shop, heading for home.

From a nearby alley, Megane watched Ataru leave the shop with a small package. He didn't know what Moroboshi was up to right now, but all signs pointed to him being totally alone. Lum had flown off a short while ago, obviously angry over something Ataru had said. Megane smiled grimly. The idiot would pay for that as well.

Signaling to Chibi and Kakugari, he moved quickly. As planned, they had their prey surrounded in moments.

Ataru blinked in surprise as two sets of hands grabbed him from behind. Then a familiar bespectacled face appeared before his own. "Megane, I'm not in the moo-" Ataru spit out irritably. He was interrupted when Megane's first well-aimed punch landed directly on his jaw. Ataru fell limp, held up only by the other two Stormtroopers.

Megane kneeled quickly to snatch up the package Ataru had just dropped. He would have plenty of time to see what it was once Ataru was taken care of.

Checking nervously around them for any witnesses, Megane gestured to his two lackeys to carry their unconscious classmate. "Come on, we've got work to do."

He never even noticed the curly red haired girl curiously watching them from a nearby tea shop's window.

Ran sipped her tea calmly as she watched them drag Lum's darling away. Looks like that idiot was in trouble again. She considered ignoring the whole situation, but kept turning it over in her mind. If she let Lum know Ataru was in trouble, Lum would probably get upset. And that would be a good thing of course, because every chance at revenge was worth taking, no matter how minor. On the other hand, it'd be helping Lum out in a way too, and that was totally unacceptable. No doubt Lum would set off to rescue Darling, and she might drag Ran along as well.

The longer Ran sat there, the more conflicted she was. Lum was her best friend, after all. And Darling was an annoying idiot, but he'd always been nice to her as well. Even after he'd seen both the nice and rough sides of her personality, he wasn't scared off like most boys.

She gulped the last of her tea and slammed the cup down. "Damn it!" she growled. Noticing the other patrons' stares, she blushed. "Ran-chan just doesn't know what to do!" she said cutely as she exited the shop.

* * *

Lum lounged lazily on her tiger striped couch, still moping about that morning's events. The flashing incoming message alert caught her attention, and she leapt up, happy for any distraction. She switched on the communicator, and then had to hold back a groan when Ran's smiling face filled the screen.

"Lum-chan!" Ran exclaimed.

Lum smiled nervously. Worried that Ran was in the midst of another scheme, she decided to be wary. "Why Ran-chan, how nice of you to call."

"It's not like you ever call me. Why is that, Lum?" Ran growled. Regaining her composure, she slipped back into her ultra sweet persona. "Lum-chan, I thought you should know that Darling is in trouble!"

Lum's eyes shot wide. "Ran, if you've hurt him, I swear I'll make you pay!" she threatened.

Ran looked scared for a moment, then burst into tears. "Ran-chan didn't do anything, it was those nasty boys who took Darling!" She abruptly stopped crying and clasped them together over her heart. "Ran-chan was so scared!"

"What boys?" Lum demanded, getting worried.

"HEY, don't you care about my feelings?" Ran responded angrily. "You always blame me for everything."

"I'm really sorry, Ran-chan," Lum tried to calm her down. "I really didn't mean it. But who was it that took Darling?"

Ran gave her a long glare. Lum appeared to be getting quite upset, which was a fair trade for accusing sweet little Ran of doing such a thing. Never mind that it would have been far from the first time that she had targeted Darling for revenge.

"It was those dorky boys from your class, the ones who moon around about you all the time. They really make me sick." Ran stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Did you see where they took him?" Lum remembered Perm's warning the day before. Megane must have taken Ataru somewhere for one of his interrogations.

"She tried to follow them, but they were too fast for little Ran-chan," Ran lied smoothly. She hadn't even bothered getting up for several minutes.

"Thanks, Ran!" Lum called, already on her way out. Ran looked at the empty view screen for a few moments, then slammed the hook down.

"Heh, have fun on your little search, dear Lum-chan," she darkly muttered.

* * *

Lum flew straight towards Tomobiki High School. Forcing her way into the clock tower, she searched it thoroughly, but found no traces of them at the usual interrogations spot. She quickly soared off into the afternoon sky, trying to search anywhere else she thought they possibly could have taken him, including his own room.

But everywhere she searched she came up empty. No one she ran across had seen them, and no one had any clues as to where they might be. Her hunt became more and more frantic as the afternoon turned into early evening with no signs of Darling or his abductors.

Hours later she arrived back home and found their room still empty. Exhausted, she sat down at the desk for a moment, trying to think. A small memo book on the desktop caught her eye, and she frowned as she recognized it. It was Ataru's little address book that he kept a list of names and phone numbers in when he went girl hunting. He almost never left this at home, especially not when he was planning to go girl hunting. She'd have to figure out that mystery later though.

On a hunch she scrolled through the book. Sure enough Megane's number was listed. She ran downstairs and called, but his mother claimed that he hadn't been home all day. Kakugari and Chibi's numbers weren't listed, but she kept flipping through until she found Perm's number.

To her relief, he answered the phone himself.

"Hello?" he asked casually.

"Perm, it's me, Lum." She cut straight to the point. "Where's Darling?"

Perm sighed in regret. "Megane told me operations were off for today. I'm guessing they went ahead without me, right?"

"I've looked all over Tomobiki, and I can't find them. Do you know where they might have taken him?" Lum hoped against hope that he did.

"Not really, Megane didn't tell any of us where we were supposed to take him. He said we'd find out when we needed to know." Perm paused. "We really need to find Ataru soon, Lum. I've known Megane since we were children, and he's never been this serious."

"Do you think they'd really hurt Darling?" Lum asked, fear evident in her voice.

"I just don't know. In the past they roughed Ataru up a bit, but Megane's been different since Friday afternoon. He's absolutely got it in his head that you need to be rescued from Ataru," Perm warned her. He stopped speaking for a long moment, trying to think. Suddenly he had an idea.

"Lum, I think I know where they could be, but I want you to wait on me before you check it out."

"Where is it?" she demanded.

"A couple months ago, do you remember when we were scouting locations for one of Megane's movie ideas, and we found that unused storage building just north of the school grounds? Well, Megane seemed really interested in it, and kept saying that he had a great idea for a torture chamber scene we could shoot there." Perm stopped. "We never got around to that movie, but knowing Megane, he didn't forget the place either."

Lum swallowed heavily. She might have flown right over Darling several times that afternoon. "Thanks, Perm. I'll see you there."

Perm hastily tried to remind her not to go anything until he got there, but the line was already dead. Throwing on a light jacket, he rushed out the door, hoping he could get there in time.

* * *

Lum flew a straight line to the school. She remembered the building's location, virtually hidden from sight from both the sky and ground by a thick cluster of trees. Flying low, she wove her way through the trees surrounding it, ignoring Perm's advice.

The building came into sight, a low structure little bigger almost as large as a house. Sure enough a faint glow glimmered out from underneath the door, proving someone was inside. She paused for a moment, thinking about the best way to get in, but as a low moan came from inside, she was galvanized into action.

Megane looked up stunned as the entire door flew inwards, propelled by a massive electrical blast. Bits of it showered the room as a familiar shape flitted through the doorway, lighting crackling over every square inch of her now glowing body. He once again thanked the gods that he had had the foresight to insulate the armored suit he now wore.

Lum scanned the room, taking in the scene in one long moment. There was a person kneeling against the far wall, obviously restrained by the arms. The single lamp sitting in the middle of the room flickered wildly from her entrance, making it hard to see. A dark shape stood near what had to be Darling.

She attempted to fly straight to the chained figure, but the bulky shape moved to block her path. Up close she could tell it was Megane, fully suited in his homemade armor. He lashed out, snatching her from the air and holding her by the wrists. In a panic she attempted to shock him, but it had no effect. She struggled to break his hold, but he had a vice like grip on her. Her kicks were completely ineffective against his heavy plastic paneling.

"Let go of me," she screamed franticly. "Stop it!"

"Lum, listen to me." Megane calmly commanded her. Her head slammed into his helmet's faceplate, almost causing him to loosen his grip. She tried it again, but he managed to dodge her this time. "Lum, calm down!" She kept struggling against him, managing to land several painful blows between his armor panels.

Finally having had enough, Megane threw the enraged Oni off him. Unprepared, she hit the ground shoulder first. A loud popping noise sounded and she hoped that her shoulder had merely been dislocated. She shrieked as waves of pain suddenly hit her.

From the corner of the room, Ataru stirred. He'd been drifting in and out of consciousness for hours now, every revival having been met with a flurry of punches and kicks. As he came back to reality, he saw Lum lying in the floor across the room, still clearly illuminated by her residual heat. Fighting the darkness that threatened to claim him again, Ataru lurched forward desperately, only to be thrown back by his tight restraints. He tried to scream, both in frustration and pain, as he watched Megane's dark shape lurch closer to Lum, but his parched made only a dry rattling sound.

Lum tried to get up, but found her good arm firmly armed pinned by Megane's boot. He looked down at her sadly.

"Lum, I didn't mean to hurt you," he told her gently. "If you'll just listen to what I have to say, you'll understand why I can't let you go to him. She looked up at him with only fear and anger in her eyes, and he sighed regretfully. "Ataru's no good for you, Lum. He's just going to break your heart over and over. You realize you can never be happy while he's around, don't you? Don't you realize I'm doing all this for your sake?"

"You don't know anything about Darling," she spat out venomously. "I'll never forgive you for hurting him."

"Yes, I figured that." Megane sounded very detached now. "Regardless of your feelings toward me, I swore to myself that I would protect you, Lum. If I have to get rid of that bastard to do so, then I really have no choice." A single tear dropped from his eye. "It's a shame really that things turned out like this."

Pulling something out from his pocket, he dropped something next to her face that sparkled brightly in the nearby lamp's scant light. It appeared to be some kind of amber stone set on a silver chain. Lum stared at it confused for a long moment, then gingerly moved her injured arm up to it, managing to get her fingers around the chain.

"When we found him this morning, what do you think your precious 'Darling' Ataru was doing?" Megane said angrily. "He was out buying jewelry for some girl, he wouldn't tell me who."

Suddenly he released her and stepped back. He started walking back over towards where Ataru was chained up. Lum took the opportunity to rise, but she had only gotten a few steps when a backhanded swat knocked her back down to the ground. The coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth as her consciousness faded.

"Even now you try to save him," Megane noted with disgust. "Even after all he's done to you." He reached the far wall, noting with pleasure that Ataru's eyes were struggling to stay open. Good, he wanted the scum to feel this. Drawing back his boot, he kicked Ataru hard in the ribs. Ataru gasped loudly, still unable to scream.

Just as Megane drew back for another blow, strong hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back. He was thrown to the floor hard. Looking up in shock, he saw Ryuunosuke and her father standing over him. He tried to rise, but Mr. Fujinami roughly shoved him back down. Glancing around wildly, he saw Perm picking up an unconscious Lum while Ryuunosuke checked out Ataru.

He laughed almost insanely. "I see, Perm, you were a traitor all along, weren't you?"

Perm glared at him. "You're sick, Megane. You've gone way too far this time."

"It was for Lum, you idiot. There is no such thing as too far if it's to protect her."

Perm looked down at Lum's bruised face, then looked back at Megane with pure disgust. "Yeah, you did a real bang up job of that, you bastard."

"Dad, Moroboshi's in pretty rough shape," Ryuunosuke called from the corner, sounding slightly panicked.

Mr. Fujinami, looking furious, ripped Megane's helmet off and cast it into the darkness. "Ryuunosuke, get those straps off him, then run back and call an ambulance. And make sure you get the cops out here too."


	5. A Pretty Nurse

Ataru opened his eyes to the unfamiliar glare of harsh florescent lights. He tried to sit up and immediately wished he hadn't. His whole body ached, and his torso burned like fire every time he moved. He lay back, trying to reduce the pain.

Looking around as much as he could without moving, he saw he was lying on the bed of a hospital room. The curtains were drawn open, revealing a beautiful blue sky outside. He painfully turned his neck and saw a mound of green hair surmounted by two small horns lying next to him. It was agony to move his arm, but he managed to work his arm up and wrap his fingers gently in her hair. He tousled it gently, not wanting to wake her.

At his touch, Lum looked up, having merely been resting her eyes. As her face came into view, he sucked his breath in sharply. A large bruise was already fading but still discolored her normally flawless features. Her lips were puffy and scratched from being cut by her fangs. Regardless, her smiling face was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Lum," he croaked out. "Are you ok?" He shifted, trying to reach her.

"I'm fine, Darling." She replied warmly. "Don't try to move so much." She took his hand in her left one carefully and squeezed it.

He then noticed the sling that was holding her right arm. "Your arm!" he began to protest in a raspy voice.

"My shoulder just popped out of place, it's fine, Darling." She bent over and gently kissed him on the forehead. "Try to get some rest."

He shook his head slightly. He had only a blurred memory of what had transpired the night before, and desperately wanted to know more. "Lum, you came to save me, didn't you?"

"Idiot," she said gently. "Of course I did. Not that it did much good."

"How'd we get out?" Ataru asked her. After Megane had kicked him that last time, he hadn't been able to stay conscious.

"Perm brought Ryuunosuke and her father, and they saved us."

He smiled faintly. "At least one of your 'Stormtroopers' was good for something. He chuckled for a moment, causing new jolts of pain to rock through his chest.

"Darling, stay quiet. You've got a couple of cracked ribs, you know," Lum gently admonished him.

"No wonder it hurts. Stupid Megane. I'll get him back when we get back to school."

"Darling, I don't think Megane will be coming back to school," Lum replied sadly. "He's not well in the head at all. They arrested him last night, you know."

Ataru sat there, mulling this over. He vaguely remembered Megane looming over Lum, and striking her across the face. "That's probably for the best. I don't think I could forgive him this time." He laid his head back, still a bit woozy.

Suddenly his eyes shot wide open as he realized exactly how serious things had been. This wasn't like the other times Megane had ambushed him. A few bruises and lumps were usually the extent of his injuries.

But that didn't even matter. Lum had gotten hurt this time. He felt himself shaking slightly as he thought about how the night could have turned out. She'd been fighting for his sake, and he'd been completely unable to help her.

He pulled his hand free of hers, gesturing for her to come closer. She bent over him, and he used all his strength to gently pull her down to his chest in an awkward hug. Tears formed in his eyes as he held her there.

"Lum, you idiot." He released her. "What would I do if I lost you? Promise me you'll never do anything that stupid again," he rambled on softly.

"If it's for you, Darling, I can't make that promise." Lum kissed his forehead once again, then sat back down in the chair by his bed.

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled something out. Dangling the stone by its chain over his face, she smiled. "This stone is called a tiger's eye, isn't it?"

He grinned back. "Good, you found it," he said in a weak voice. "I know it's not much, but I hoped you'd like it."

"So that's where you were going yesterday morning?" she asked. "Why didn't you just say that?"

"It was supposed to… be… a surprise," he said as his eyes drooped and he started falling back to sleep.

"I'll be right here with you, my Darling," Lum whispered as he lost consciousness.

* * *

The next time he awoke it was nighttime. Ataru was surprised to see his parents had joined Lum in crowding around his bed. His mother hovered anxiously over him, while his father looked up from reading his paper in the corner with an encouraging smile. 

"Ataru, how are you feeling?" his mother asked him worriedly.

"Not great," he responded slowly. "But better than this afternoon.

"Darling, it's Tuesday now," Lum gently told him. You've been asleep since yesterday."

"I see." He seemed to think about that for a moment. That explained how her bruises had faded even more. "Have you been here the whole time?" he finally asked.

"She hasn't left your side since they let her in Sunday night," his mother answered for her. "You should be thanking the stars you have such a good wife to take care of you."

He thought about that for a moment. That was two days. "Haven't you slept?" he asked her worriedly.

Lum shrugged. "This chair's pretty comfy," was all that she'd say.

Her eyes looked tired, he noted. "Lum," he grabbed her hand carefully. "Why don't you go home and get some real rest?"

"I'm not leaving you, Darling," she stated firmly.

"We've been trying to convince her to for two days, Ataru," his mother confided. "She won't budge."

"Lum." He gave her the sternest expression he could muster. "I'll be fine. Go home and get some sleep."

"I'll stay with him if you'll go," his mother pleaded.

Lum smiled then shook her head slowly side to side. "I'm just fine right here," she stated stubbornly.

Ataru suddenly yawned. "How long am I supposed to be stuck in this stupid bed?" he asked grumpily.

"The doctor thinks you should be ready to come home by Thursday," his mother replied.

"And you're not leaving until then?" he asked Lum, knowing it was useless to argue further.

"That's right!" Lum responded happily.

* * *

Soon a nurse came by and hesitantly announced that visiting hours were ending. Ataru's parents wished him well and left, leaving him with just Lum. 

Ataru watched the door shut behind them. "Lum, how come they let you stay in the room?"

"Why wouldn't they let a wife stay with her injured husband," she responded curiously.

"Well, yeah, but you know. We aren't officially married yet, or anything."

"Yet?" she caught his slip and smiled. "That's the first time you've phrased it like that."

"Don't dodge the question," he said, eager to gloss over his wording.

"Darling, I really wasn't up to arguing over it when we came in. I just told them I was your wife and I wasn't leaving you."

He suspected there had been more arguing than she was letting on, but let the topic go.

"Hey?"

"Yes," she answered cautiously.

"Thanks." He stared at the ceiling as he talked. "It'd be really lonely in here without you." He paused for several seconds. "You know, you're probably my only real friend."

"Am I just a friend?" she asked, suddenly intent.

"You know you aren't," he responded without looking over at her. It was easier to talk like this if he just kept his eyes somewhere neutral. "You mean a lot to me, Lum." He couldn't keep the tears back any longer. "I really don't know what I'd do without you."

"Darling," she said, stunned by his emotional outburst. "I'll never leave you."

"Lum." He finally looked over at her. Her eyes were beginning to tear up as well. He sniffed, trying to compose himself.

She decided to change the subject; he was obviously having a hard time with this. "You know, what you said about friends?"

"Yeah," he responded absently, pretending to wipe dust from his eyes.

"You know that's not true, right Darling?"

"Who else," he scoffed. "And don't say Mendou."

"Perm, for one," she responded lightly. "And Ryuunosuke, and Mr. Fujinami, and Sakura, Cherry, Shinobu, Kotatsuneko, Ten, Benton, Ran, Oyuki, Inaba, and yes, even Mendou in his own way." She paused. "You just don't realize how many friends you have, Darling."

He looked at her skeptically in reply.

"It's true. Everyone's been worried about you, even Onsen-Mark Sensei."

He smiled, trying but failing to envision his long-suffering teacher as worried.

He thought for a moment. "Isn't Jariten back from his trip yet?" he asked.

"Yep. He got back yesterday. Your parents have been watching him for me."

"Oh," He simply responded. There went their peaceful nights together, he supposed.

"Tomorrow he might visit us," she said hopefully. "He's been worried about you."

"Now I know you're full of it," he muttered. "Jariten's probably laughing his head off."

"Darling, you two fight a lot, but you're kind of like a big brother to him, you know." Lum thought for a moment. "If you're feeling up to it, Mendou said he'd like to visit tomorrow as well."

Ataru's face darkened. "He's just wanting to visit you, no doubt. He certainly doesn't care about my well being."

"That's not true, Darling. He's asked about you several times."

"This is Mendou Shutaro we're talking about, right?" Ataru asked incredulously.

"That's right," she replied, starting to yawn. "Sorry, Darling, I'm getting a bit sleepy." She scooted her chair a bit closer and rested her chin on the edge of his bed.

"You should have went home with Mom and Dad," he grumbled. "You're injured too."

"I'll be fine in a day or two," she mused drowsily. "Oni heal more quickly than humans do."

"That's good." He decided to stop talking so she could get some rest. Annoyingly, having slept for the better part of two days, he was feeling rather awake now.

After he was sure she had dozed off, Ataru started taking careful inventory of his injuries. His face felt a bit battered, but nothing serious, just really sore. Both of his wrists were rubbed raw from the restraints, but they were already starting to feel better. The rest of the damage, aside from the pain radiating from his midsection, seemed to be limited to a series of bruises on his arms and legs.

He shifted around so that he could look out the window. The moon was visible, a thin crescent shining brightly. He watched it for a few minutes, then turned back to Lum. Her face was hidden by her good arm, which she was using as a pillow.

He didn't know how long he watched her sleep, but it was long enough for him to nod back off as well.

* * *

It was early morning before he was jarred awake by the sound of the closing door. He glanced around his room in a panic for a moment, realizing he was alone. Common sense took over quickly. Lum had to eat and use the restroom; she couldn't stay with him every single second. 

Sure enough the door soon opened again and Lum stepped back inside quietly, carrying a tray of food. She smiled when she saw that Ataru had woken up already.

"Good morning, Darling," she greeted him warmly. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he admitted. "Kinda sick of laying in bed though."

"I'll bet." Lum sat down next to him, keeping the tray on her lap. She looked at him critically. "Hungry?"

Ataru thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, famished actually." He gingerly sat up, careful not to put too much pressure on his ribs.

Lum picked up a pair of chopsticks. "Say ah," she commanded.

"Lum, I can feed myself," Ataru said, embarrassed.

"Ahhh," she insisted.

He finally relented. After eating, Ataru settled back down. "Man, I'm getting really sick of this place."

"They're still saying you can leave tomorrow, Darling."

"Lotta good that does me today," he sighed. He turned his gaze out the window. It felt like weeks since he'd last been able to enjoy fresh air. Still, things could be worse. At least Lum was here, without her he didn't know how he'd be staying sane.

On the other hand, her constant presence was making it really hard to think objectively, and he felt like that was something he really needed to do lately. Things seemed to be spiraling out of his control; everything seemed to be changing. After such a long time of life staying the same old routine, it was frightening to experience sudden upheavals_. "I wouldn't exactly say exactly say all the changes were bad_," he thought, glancing back at Lum, "_But still, it's a lot all at once_."

The school year wouldn't last much longer, and then they'd be seniors. The worries and stress of entrance exams would soon become their only focus. He thought about that for a moment. Up until now he'd been avoiding the whole idea, living in the present only. But his grades were terrible. He'd have to do astoundingly well on the entrance exams to get into any college.

And say by some miracle he did get in. Then what? Become a salaryman like his father, only having a couple hours at home before bed? Was that really enough?

And what about Lum? Would that really satisfy her? He found himself wondering how an Oni princess would feel about being a poor housewife.

He snorted as he realized that only a week ago, he'd still been having his silly dreams of being lord of a harem. Of course he knew it was impossible, but it was a nice dream regardless. What exactly had changed? Now he was thinking more and more of a simple life with Lum, something he had long denied to himself. But even as far back as when they had the whole ordeal with Inaba, he'd been resigned to marrying Lum one day. It was that future he had tried to save after all, not the harem one.

"Darling?" Lum asked tentatively. He was being awfully quiet all of the sudden. She hoped he wasn't getting in one of his bad moods.

"Yeah?" Ataru replied absentmindedly.

He didn't sound mad at least. "Nothing."

Ataru looked over at her, his train of thought derailed. "What is it?" he insisted, slightly annoyed.

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about," she said honestly.

"Lots of stuff. Life, I guess," Ataru answered. "Thinking about the future."

"Oh?" Lum replied neutrally. She wondered exactly what kind of future he was thinking about. Hopefully not his usual fantasy of forming a harem, she hoped.

* * *

Later that afternoon a sharp knock sounded on the door, startling the pair. Lum hopped up and answered it. 

"Ah, Greetings, Lum-san, how are you feeling?"

Ataru rolled his eyes slightly. That irritating voice could only be Mendou.

Lum greeted him warmly. "I'm ok," she answered. "Darling's doing better as well."

"Moroboshi!" Shutaro called out as he entered the room. "How could you survive countless struggles against the Mendou private armed forces, yet end up like this? Have you no shame?"

"Mainly because you led them," Ataru responded, briefly laughing before wincing in pain. He grinned. "Besides, this is just a temporary setback at best."

"You are quite like a cockroach, Moroboshi," Mendou said admiringly. He sat elegantly in one of the spare chairs. "Nothing ever seems to squash you for long."

"Hey, I resent that!" Ataru stuck his tongue out rudely. "Besides, better to be a cockroach than a slimy octopus."

Lum settled back down next to Ataru's bed and smiled, happy that Darling was acting more like his usual self.

Mendou looked away with an insulted air. "Lum-san, when are you going to ditch this rude degenerate and realize you were meant for better things?" Mendou asked haughtily.

"Hey, don't talk to my wife like that!" Ataru angrily interjected. Realizing what he had said, his hand shot up to his mouth. He rolled his eyes slowly over to Lum, hoping she hadn't noticed.

"Darling!" she happily exclaimed. "That's the first time you've ever called me your wife!"

Ataru blushed, thinking furiously. "I just took my painkillers, pretty nurse." He gave her his biggest idiotic grin. "What's your name, address, and phone number?"

"Strange, Moroboshi, you were perfectly lucid a moment ago," Mendou observed calmly.

Ataru turned to his rival. "Are you another pretty nurse?" he asked, pretending to have a hard time seeing. "Give me a big kiss!" He puckered up and leaned forward with his hands held out.

"Ugh! You're really repulsive, Moroboshi, you know that?" Mendou responded, shrinking away.

"Darling!" Lum warned Ataru. "Don't move around so much." She smiled at her silly husband. "Shutaro, don't egg him on so."

"I apologize, Lum-san," Mendou said contritely. "It does appear that he's feeling better though."

Ataru reached out and grabbed Lum's left hand between his own. Keeping one amused eye on Mendou, he puckered up again. "Pretty nurse, please give me a healing kiss, won't you?" he asked her seriously.

Lum shot him a suspicious look, then surrendered and gave him a quick peck on his lips.

Ataru spun around back to Mendou, a smile on his face. "And that's why it's better to be a cockroach!" Satisfied, he crossed his arms and lay back down.

"Moroboshi, how dare you lead Lum-san on so!" Mendou said, flabbergasted.

"Who's leading anyone on?" Ataru asked, suddenly serious. He grinned again, just as quickly back in his goofy mode. "I'm just having a good time with my pretty nurse." He stuck his tongue out at Mendou again.

"I see," Mendou said contemplatively while standing up. "Well, I've got business to attend to back home." He glared at Ataru. "Once you're healed, we'll settle this matter of honor." He unexpectedly smiled. "Heal up quickly, Moroboshi. Things have been decidedly less interesting with you gone." Mendou threw them a casual wave as he left.

"Darling, you're terrible," Lum admonished him as the door closed.

Ataru looked downcast. "Pretty nurse?" he asked pitifully.

"Drop the amnesia act," Lum scolded him, slightly amused. "You aren't even doing a very good job at it."

Ataru looked away, pretending to be insulted. "Hmph. I am injured, you know."

She finally giggled. "Do you really think I'm pretty?" she inquired, batting her eyes.

"What was the first thing I said when we first met you?" Ataru asked her, curious if she still remembered.

She mock glared at him "'What a fine looking big-busted babe' I believe was your romantic wording, Darling." She looked away, affecting a pout. "I should have realized then what a lecher you were."

"Hey, at least I'm honest," he replied happily with a simple shrug.

"Even your tag winning methods were lecherous." Lum idly pointed out. "I still can't believe you did that to me in front of all those people."

"It was for the sake of all mankind," he declared stoically. "I just did what I had to." He grinned. "I can't honestly say I didn't enjoy it though."

"Terr-i-ble," she softly intoned at him, playfully tapping out each syllable on his nose.

* * *

Ten was the next visitor to show up, waddling in about an hour after Mendou had left. 

"Lum-chan!" he called as soon as she answered the door. "Lum-chan, are you ok? I missed you!"

"Ten-chan," she replied happily. "Have you been a good boy?"

"Of course, Lum-chan," he answered almost guiltily. "I'm always a good boy."

"Hey, Jariten, aren't you going to say hello to me?" Ataru demanded, raising his head irritably."

Ten narrowed his eyes and swam slowly through the air until he was right over Ataru's face. "Idiot."

"Hey!" Ataru yelled at him. "What's your problem."

"Not only did you get yourself all busted up," Ten paused, sucking in a big breath. "You also got Lum-chan hurt, you idiot!"

Ataru's eyes widened in shock at the accusation. He made a halfhearted snatch for Ten, but the Oni boy easily evaded him.

"Ten-chan," Lum scolded him angrily. "I can't believe you said that."

Ataru stared at the hovering Ten for a moment longer, then rolled over to glare out the window.

"Ten," Lum snatched him out of the air with her good arm. "Ten, apologize to Darling right now!"

"No way in hell I'm apologizing to that moron!" Ten yelled back.

She looked down. Darling was laying there totally ignoring the two, still just glaring out the window. She brought Ten close and looked him in the eye. "Apologize now!" she growled, baring her fangs.

Ten struggled to get free, to no avail. She had too good a hold on him. "Lum-chan, let go!"

Having had enough, Lum dragged him out of the room and tossed him out in the hallway. Shutting the door behind her, she snatched hold of the now scared boy. "What has got into you?" she hissed furiously at her young cousin.

"Lum-chan, your face got all beat up," Ten replied weakly. "It's all that idiot's fault. If it wasn't for him, it wouldn't have happened."

She stared at him for a long moment. "Ten, I'm hurt because I tried to rescue Darling by myself," she bit out. "Do you have any idea how upset he is about that already, even though it wasn't his fault? Darling got seriously hurt, and do you know what triggered it all? He was being nice to me, that was his big crime."

She paused for a moment, trying to calm down but failing. "And then you dare come in, while he's still in the hospital no less, and make him feel even worse?"

Ten was all out crying now, unused to such a harsh scolding.

She finally released him. "Ten-chan, you've got two choices right now. Either you be on your best damn behavior, go in there, and sincerely apologize to Darling, or else go home. And I don't mean Darling's home either."

Ten nodded, wiping away his tears. "Ten-chan's a good boy," he said fearfully.

"So you're going to apologize?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ten answered glumly.

"Ok, go back in then," Lum said, opening the door.

Ten waddled his way back over to the bed. "Ataru!" he wailed. "I'm sorry, Ataru. I didn't mean it."

Ataru still had his eyes glued to the window. He remained silent as Ten fidgeted nervously overhead. The minutes passed slowly as Ataru refused to look up, his expression frozen.

Ten bowed several times in mid air. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Ataru," he pleaded, but there was still no response."

"Ten-chan," Lum called softly, all the menace gone from her voice. "I think Darling needs to rest now. Maybe you should go on back to the Moroboshi's house."

"But…" Ten was confused. Ataru never just brooded like this. Usually a frying pan would have come his way by now, or at the very least yelling. He hung his head in defeat. "Ok, Lum-chan." He headed for the door, then paused. "I'm sorry, Ataru," he said softly.

"Jariten," Ataru finally spoke. "You were right in the first place, so don't worry about it." He paused, and then wearily continued. "Go on home, Jariten. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ten opened his mouth to protest, but Lum's eyes told him to keep quiet. Pushing him gently out the door, she patted his head. "Go on home, Ten-chan. Make sure you tell mother and father that we'll be back home by tomorrow afternoon for sure."

"Ok, Lum-chan," he replied sadly, slowly toddling off for home.


	6. Return to Normalcy

It had been several hours since Ten left, but Darling hadn't said anything more. He just kept staring out the window, ignoring Lum's tentative attempts at conversation.

She was growing frustrated quickly. "Darling, look at me when I talk to you," she finally snapped.

He jumped at her harsh tone. Well, that was more response than he'd shown for hours at least.

Now that she knew she had his attention, Lum continued more gently. "Darling, Ten really didn't mean what he said. He was just upset because we're both hurt. He is still just a baby, remember."

Ataru continued to silently stare into the night.

She sighed. He was being really difficult, and what made it even more frustrating is that she knew he wasn't doing it to irritate her; he was just in the midst of a bout of guilty brooding. Still, she wished he would learn to talk to her at times like this.

Being extremely tired and sore wasn't helping her mood any. Sleeping sitting up for 3 nights was murder on her back, and her injured shoulder was still throbbing a bit, though it should be mostly healed by now. She experimentally rotated her shoulder a bit.

"Ouch," she hissed out softly as pain flooded out from the joint.

Faster than she would have thought possible Ataru had flipped over and was looking at her with concern. "Lum, what's wrong?" he asked her worriedly.

"I'm fine, Darling," she replied, wincing. "My shoulder's just a little stiff still."

She noticed tears forming in Ataru's eyes. "_Darn it, he's still blaming himself for this_," she thought. "Darling, don't worry about me, I'm just fine. We just need to concentrate on getting you better."

He looked unconvinced. Suddenly with obvious effort he reached out towards her, but he couldn't quite make it. She smiled at him and scooted in towards him, softly clasping his outstretched hand to the side of her face and caressing it.

He gently ran his fingers across her skin, careful not to touch her almost completely faded bruises. Lum blushed under his intense stare, but didn't move away. After a moment he withdrew his hand with a sigh.

"Lum."

"What is it, Darling?" she asked him gently.

"I'm sorry, Lum. I really am. You didn't deserve this." He looked past her, not really focusing on anything. "It seems like no matter what I do, you end up getting hurt."

"Darling, you have nothing to apologize for," she told him sternly. "You were the victim in all this, and you did nothing wrong."

"Not even counting this, Lum, I've hurt you so many times, haven't I?"

Lum raised an eyebrow. "Darling, what are you talking about?"

"How many times have I hurt your feelings?" he wondered idly. "It must be a huge number by now. Every day when I wake up and find you still here, I wonder how you could bear it."

"Darling," she began carefully. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you've never hurt me. In fact you've said and done a lot of things that hurt pretty bad. But do you know why I've never gave up hope?"

"Why?" he asked hesitantly.

"Because I'm hopelessly in love with you," she simply said. "And because I always had hope that sooner or later, if I toughed it out, you would start to love me too."

His eyes widened. "Lum, I-" he swallowed heavily, trying to continue.

"You don't have to say it, Darling." She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. "I know that you love me." She smiled sadly. "Even with all that's happened, I don't think I've ever been happier than I have been to be with you this week." She fondly ran her fingers through his bed-mussed hair. "Thank you." She gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, then gently nuzzled his cheek with her own. "Any pain you may have caused me in the past, every single bit of it was worth it just to arrive at this point with you."

They stayed like that for several long minutes. Finally, feeling her head starting to droop, Ataru spoke up.

"Lum, are you getting sleepy?" he asked gently.

She mutely nodded. She felt like she hadn't slept in years.

"I need to get some rest too," he said reluctantly, loathe to end their moment. He started scooting away from her.

"Darling, be careful," she warned him. "Don't hurt yourself."

He scrunched himself up against the far side of the bed, appearing to position himself as far away from her as possible. She frowned at him, unsure why he was pulling away so far away from her.

Once he was at least semi comfortable, he looked up at her. "Lum," he commanded her, "get up here."

She protested. "Darling, the bed isn't big enough. I'll be fine right here."

He wasn't backing down. "Lum, you're not sleeping in that chair again tonight. It's totally your choice if you are going to join me up here, or if I'm going to be sleeping on the floor."

"Darling, don't be silly, you're not sleeping on the floor." If she had to stay up all night making sure he stayed in bed, she'd do so.

He closed his eyes and leaned backwards, precariously close to tipping off the side of the bed. She gasped and leapt across the bed, throwing her good arm across his shoulders. His eyes snapped open and he gingerly wrapped both of his arms around hers.

"Gotcha. Now float on up here and lay down, or I'm not giving your arm back."

She sighed, surrendering. "Fine, just let go and scoot back over here a bit so you don't fall off."

He complied, and as promised she carefully floated up and came to rest beside him. He cradled her carefully in his arms, careful not to bump his still mending ribs or her injured arm.

Suddenly, just as they were nodding off, she had a thought. "My ribbon needs to be tied on, Darling." He nodded agreement, knowing an accidental jolt could knock both of them off the bed. She floated effortlessly out of bed, retrieving her ribbon from her nearby jacket's pocket. She noted sadly that it's once pure yellow length had gotten stained during her struggle against Megane.

"Ok, tie it on me", she said once she was nestled back in her husband's arms.

It took much longer than usual, but he got both bows tied after a few failed attempts. She carefully nestled her head under his chin and arched her back to make sure she wouldn't be touching his ribs at all.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked sleepily.

"More so than in that chair," she admitted. "How about you?"

"Much better since you joined me," he murmured."

* * *

The nurse who stopped by early the next morning to check up on the room's occupants looked disapprovingly at the couple sharing the small bed, but didn't bother them. After the ruckus the Oni girl had caused the night they had been brought in, all the nurses had standing orders not only to ignore the girl staying there nonstop, but also not to leave them alone as much as possible.

About to leave, she noticed that the boy was at least partially awake. His face was still pretty bruised, she noted, but he seemed content enough.

"Everything ok?" she whispered, unwilling to risk waking the green haired girl who had scared even the hospital's oldest matrons. He slowly raised his fingers in an OK sign, then carefully wrapped his arm back around the girl's waist. The nurse smiled and quietly crept out, grateful that no incidents had occurred.

* * *

It was mid afternoon before they managed to get Ataru released. With Ataru still in too much pain to walk very far, Mendou had kindly arranged for one of his family's cars to transport the couple home. By the time evening had rolled around, the young couple was settled in comfortably.

The Moroboshis had decided to splurge a bit to celebrate the two's return home, so they had prepared to have sukiyaki, one of Ataru's favorites. To his embarrassment Lum insisted on feeding him, even though he was probably able to do it on his own.

After dinner, Mr. Moroboshi helped his son up the stairs, then went back downstairs to finish reading the paper before bed.

Ataru sighed as Lum went to lay out his futon. With Ten back, he figured he would be back to sleeping alone again. He stood unsteadily and walked over to the balcony. It was a warm night, so he opened the door and stepped out, enjoying the fresh air that he'd been missing so much. Holding on to the railing for support, he gazed out at the sky, wondering what he would have been doing now if things hadn't gotten so messed up the past few days.

Realizing that it was exactly a week ago that he had plotted to show Lum that article on electrocutions, he chuckled. It seemed completely unreal that it had only been one week. How could so much change that quickly, he asked himself. All he'd been thinking about last Thursday was all the girls he could get away with chasing if Lum was afraid to zap him.

Now, oddly enough, Ataru found his desire to go girl hunting pretty low. He wondered what exactly had changed. At first he thought it was Lum, as her temper had often led him to stray out of spite. But the more he thought about it, he wondered if the changes hadn't mostly been in him instead.

From what he could tell, Lum's temper hadn't decreased one bit; he'd just stopped incurring that temper upon himself constantly. Originally it had been out of guilt for making her worry. Now it was out of a genuine desire to make her happy. Either way, once he'd stopped their constant cycle of anger and punishment, he'd found himself growing much closer to his beautiful companion.

"Darling," an inviting voice called out behind him. "You shouldn't overdo it. Come back in and lie down, your futon's ready."

Carefully stretching his tired muscles, Ataru complied. He reentered the room, then looked around surprised.

"Where'd Jariten go?" he asked. The small Oni had been unusually nice to him all evening, likely due to Lum's scolding.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Lum asked excitedly. "Your parents cleaned out the guest room next door. "Ten-chan's going to be sleeping in there from now on."

Is he going to be ok, sleeping by himself?" Ataru asked, aware that her cousin liked to curl up with her.

"Ten-chan's getting to be a big boy, so he'll have to get used to it," she stated confidently. "Mother said that he's been doing fine this week so far." She blushed slightly. "She told me a couple of days ago that they decided to prepare the room back on Sunday afternoon because young lovers need their privacy."

Ataru blushed heavily, a dumb grin on his face. Lovers. They weren't at that point yet, but at the rate they had been going…

"Don't get any ideas, Darling," Lum warned him, seeing his expression. "You're in no condition for anything like that." She sniffed. "Besides, I'm still waiting for at least an engagement ring, idiot."

Eager to change the subject, he suddenly had a thought. "You still have that necklace, don't you?"

"Of course," Lum responded. She quickly retrieved it from her jacket pocket.

"I just hadn't seen you wearing it," he replied, relieved that it hadn't gotten lost.

"Well, you didn't officially give it to me yet," she cutely reminded him, putting it in his hand.

"I see." He'd still been pretty out of it when she had originally told him she'd found it.

"Well, don't say I never got you anything except that ribbon anymore." Having her turn around, he secured the light silver chain around her neck.

She twirled around and surprised him with a long kiss on his lips. "Thank you, Darling. This is an incredible gift."

"Well, it's not that fancy or anything," he said shyly. "But I thought you'd like it because of the stripes."

"Tiger's Eye stones are pretty impossible to get outside of earth," she informed him. "This is a pretty valuable stone by my planet's standards."

"Oh?" He said speculatively, thinking of the money that could be made through exportation.

"They've got strict importing restrictions in place on to prevent devaluing gemstones, Darling." Benton and she had considered the idea themselves in the past, but the rules governing such trade were ironclad.

"Well, all that matters is that you like it," Ataru said, grinning to hide his greed related disappointment.

"I love it." She gave him another quick kiss. " Now shall we go to bed, Darling?" She gestured at the futon.

He gave her an eager nod, so she helped him get situated, then slid under the cover herself. He tied on her freshly washed ribbon, then helped her remove her necklace and laid it safely nearby. After days in the hospital, the soft futon seemed like an old comfortable friend.

As they lay there together in the dark, Ataru's mind started to once again try to sort out the changes that had occurred in their relationship. Finally he gave up. Marveling at the beautiful alien girl peacefully slumbering in his arms, he decided to stop worrying about it and just see where this path led them.

* * *

They spent the next few days in good spirits, just recuperating and generally enjoying each other's company. Of course they still had a few spats, but it really wouldn't be normal for them not to get into the occasional argument. Especially with a bored Ten hanging around and a steady procession of visitors stopping by to check on the pair all weekend long.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, Ataru was actually eager to return to school. They had a quick breakfast and went off to school together. Ataru was mostly recovered by now, though his ribs would still take some time to completely heal.

Still, Lum wasn't taking any chances. "You're sure you're ok, Darling?" she asked him several times during their walk.

"Yeah, yeah," he finally replied, starting to get annoyed. "You don't have to baby me, Lum. It's embarrassing."

She let go of him and crossed her arms. "Some people would appreciate being taken care of," she pouted.

"I do appreciate it," he replied, looking away. "But I'm fine now." He kept walking, slinging his bag back over his shoulder. "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" he asked with a sigh.

"Darling, cheer up," Lum pleaded, flying around to his other side. "It's only our first day back, after all."

He looked down for a moment, then looked away again with a grin. "At least I can see Sakura-chan and Shinobu-chan and Ryuu-chan and Ran-chan…"

"Terrible," Lum simply responded, not rising to his bait.

* * *

When they arrived at the classroom, Ataru was surprised at the warm reception towards not only Lum, but himself as well. When it came time for English class, Even Onsen-Mark greeted him in a friendly manner. Mendou remained distant; he was obviously jealous of the attention they were receiving, but he still gave Ataru a casual nod.

Still, things were a bit off without Megane's usual loud presence in the back of the room. Ataru glanced at the empty seat behind him once, then turned back around with a sigh. Lum, dropping into the seat next to him, gave him a concerned look but decided not to pester him.

Soon they were in the midst of another long boring day. Ataru somewhat stealthily started in on his lunch, badly disguising his activities behind his upside down English book. Onsen-Mark glared at him once or twice, but decided to let him be for another day at least.

Lum glanced over at Darling with a cool gaze. Once again she figured she'd have to share with him come lunchtime. Not that she really minded, of course. It gave him an incentive to not stray far from her, at least until they were done eating.

Finally putting away his bento, Ataru seemed to attempt paying attention, but his head soon started dipping lower and lower. Soon enough he was sound asleep on his desk, snoring fairly loudly. Their teacher seethed for a moment as the sound reached him, but then just started talking a bit louder, determined to ignore the slumbering pest. At least for today.

Lunchtime eventually rolled around. Ataru woke with a start as soon as Lum nudged him. "I'm awake!" he called out from habit, before realizing it wasn't the teacher about to give him a whack.

"Darling, it's time to eat," Lum whispered at him.

Ataru glanced around while rubbing the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed that he had made himself the center of attention again.

Onsen-Mark, halfway out the door, shouted back, "Moroboshi, don't sleep in my class!" before making his exit.

Mendou stood up and looked over at Ataru. "Moroboshi, at least try to not disrupt the entire class so soon after returning."

"Shut it, Mendou," Ataru snapped. He tried to look pathetic. "I'm still feeling weak from my long ordeal."

"You said you were fine this morning," Lum pointed out, a touch of annoyance in her voice.

Ataru adopted a stoic face. "It is the duty of a man to bear such things in silence."

Mendou raised an eyebrow. "If you are bearing it in silence, then why are you making so much noise about it?" he yelled irately.

"Look who's talking!" Ataru yelled back.

"Will you both shut the hell up!" Ryuunosuke yelled from the back of the room, quieting them. She got up, muttering angrily. "It's like listening to my idiotic old man in here."

A faint yell of "Masako!" from downstairs broke through the sudden silence. Her face twisted in anger and she started stomping towards the door.

"Don't be angry, Ryuu-chan!" Ataru called out, bounding towards her.

She dodged him neatly. "Moroboshi, if you weren't injured," she threatened him with an upraised fist.

"Darling!" Lum swooped down on him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and lifted him struggling into the air. "Don't overdo it, you're going to hurt yourself again," she scolded angrily. He stopped struggling, but kept muttering grumpily.

She carried Ataru out the window, then gently set him down on the ground below. Glaring a warning to stay put at him, she shot back up and quickly returned with both of their lunches. "Now, Darling, we're going to have a nice lunch together," she growled at him.

Ataru stood there a moment, then sat down grumpily. Lum handed him his noticeably light bento and then sat down beside him, slightly leaning against his shoulder. She was about to start eating when he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Surprised, she turned to him. "Darling?"

He looked away innocently. "What is it?"

She rested her head on his shoulder. "You really are just terrible," she lightly scolded him.

Ataru, already digging into what remained of his lunch, didn't answer.

A few faint shouts rang out across the school grounds. From the sound of things, Ryuunosuke and her father were into it again. A few minutes later Sakura's ranting voice joined them.

* * *

Sitting far away from the young couple, Kakugari, Chibi, and Perm were eating their own lunches together.

Kakugari suddenly sighed, looking across the grounds. "You think Ataru is still made at us?" he asked cautiously.

Perm snorted. "Ataru's got no reason to be mad at me. I wasn't even involved." He glared at his two childhood friends.

Chibi looked at Perm fearfully. "We weren't really either. Sure, we helped Megane get Ataru to school, but he told us he was just going to let Ataru go after he questioned him a bit." The short boy started tearing up again.

"Yeah," Kakugari somberly agreed. "Megane told us to go on home, that he was going to interrogate Ataru for just a few minutes by himself." He paused, trying to stay calm. "You've been there in the past, Perm. He's never done anything this violent. We just didn't know he was going to take things this far."

"Idiots," Perm replied. "I wasn't even there that last day, and I could tell he was acting funny. You're just lucky the police didn't arrest you as accomplices. Not to mention that the Principal decided not to suspend you."

"I know, I know," Kakugari agreed. "We both feel really bad about it though."

"Well, maybe you should apologize to them then," Perm suggested, rolling his eyes. "Instead of just avoiding them like scared rats."

"Yeah, we know that we need to," Kakugari replied miserably.

Perm looked away from the pitiful duo. "Well, at least one good thing seems to have come out of all this," he mused aloud. "Ataru seems to have gotten a lot closer to Lum while they were gone."

"How's that a good thing?" Chibi asked plaintively. "I thought we wanted to keep them apart."

"Give it a rest, Chibi," Kakugari said. "Megane was the one obsessed with that. I honestly just don't care anymore."

Perm agreed. "Lum chose Ataru a long time ago. If you really care about her, don't interfere with those two anymore."

"I guess you're right," Chibi reluctantly agreed. "Seems a shame there aren't more girls like that though."

The other two agreed heartily with him on that point.

* * *

As they finished up their lunch, a trio of shadows fell upon the pair. Ataru looked up, surprised to see Kakugari and Chibi there. He ignored them and looked straight at Perm. "Hey, Perm, what's going on?" he asked suspiciously. He felt Lum wrapping her arms around his shoulders protectively and put a reassuring hand on her arm in response.

"These guys wanted to apologize to you two," Perm said, stepping back a bit.

"Gee, Ataru, we're really sorry," Kakugari said while bowing. "If we'd known what would happen, we would have never."

"Yeah, never!" Chibi interjected fearfully.

"What's done is done," Ataru told them with a glare. "Megane didn't get rough with me until he was sure you were both gone, so I'm not blaming you for what happened afterwards." He paused. "But I am blaming you idiots for grabbing me in the first place."

He got a sour expression. "I accept your apologies, but man, I just don't know." He stood up, Lum still hanging on weightlessly, and stared at them for a moment. "I assume you are going to leave Lum alone from now on, right?"

"Yeah, Ataru, of course," Kakugari responded sincerely. "I just hope our friendship doesn't end like this."

Chibi cowered slightly behind his larger friend. "Yeah, we've known each other since elementary school."

Ataru suddenly laughed. "Yeah, I guess we have. No hard feelings, guys."

The two looked relieved, Ataru was acting like his normal self again. Perm was happy as well, pleased that he wouldn't have to start choosing which group to hang out with.

After the trio had left, Ataru turned to Lum. "I didn't think I'd ever get an apology out of those two," he admitted. "But there's no use holding a grudge."

"That's one of the things I love about you," Lum told him, finally releasing him. "You really do have a big heart, Darling."

"It's only one of my numerous great qualities," he replied offhandedly.


	7. Rustbucket Memoirs

The weather was quickly turning hot as the mild spring smoothly blended into summer. Only a couple of weeks were left until summer vacation began, and the students and teachers alike were starting to get anxious. Still, sleeping in on a Saturday morning was a pleasure that would not be denied.

Ataru Moroboshi awoke with a start as a loud clanging noise sounded outside the house. He raised his head warily and rubbed his eyes with one hand. "What the hell was that?" he complained.

"I don't know, Darling," Lum replied grumpily. "Why don't we just ignore it and go back to sleep?"

He glanced at her, nestled snugly against his side. "Good idea," he replied, yawning. He squinted to make out the clock on the wall. "It's only 3:30 am," he noted sleepily. "I'm glad we don't have school tomorrow."

He was just starting to drift off again when the clanging noise sounded again, this time sounding like it was near the roof. "Damn it," he muttered without moving. "That'd better not be Jariten fighting with Torajima again."

Lum's only response was to pull the blanket up higher, covering all but the top of her head.

A few long moments passed, but the noise seemed to have stopped. He closed his eyes and tried for the second time to fall back asleep.

A loud crash sounded directly overhead as the house shook briefly.

"Damn it, Jariten!" Ataru yelled.

"It wasn't me, you idiot!" came the irate response from the next room.

A second later his mother's voice rang out through the house, "Ataru, stop making so much noise up there!"

With a growl Ataru sat up, gently untangling himself from his still half-asleep partner's sprawled out limbs. She murmured in vague protest as he stumbled up and went over to the balcony doors. He peered out, but didn't see anything in the dark predawn sky.

Sighing, he slid open the door and stepped out into the warm night air. Carefully climbing onto the railing, he made a lunge for the side of the roof and pulled himself up.

To his surprise, he wasn't alone up there. Sitting half dazed next to her scorched and twisted airbike was Lum's best friend, Benten. He took one look at her, then bent down over the side of the roof. "Lum, you'd better get out here," he called worriedly.

"What is it, Darling?" she asked between yawns. She soon emerged, still tying the sash of the short bathrobe she had recently bought.

"Lum, you'd better get up here quick. Benten crashed into the roof," he told her.

She looked up in a panic, now wide-awake. "Benten?" She attempted to fly up, but landed hard back on her feet. "Darling, I need you to undo my ribbon," she said urgently.

He slid down hard, landing on first his feet, then his rear-end. "Ow," he muttered as Lum helped him to his feet.

As soon as the last bow had come off, she grabbed him around the middle and flew back up to the roof. She set him down, then rushed over to Benten.

"Benten, are you ok?" Lum cried, hovering over her friend.

"Lum?" Benten said with a grimace. "Sorry about the roof, I tried to make a soft approach, but my thrusters finally gave out." She gingerly made her way to her feet. "Well, that was one hell of a landing, anyways," she observed as she looked from her wrecked vehicle to the long gouge in the roofing tiles.

"What on earth happened?" Lum demanded.

"Eh, nothing serious," Benten answered casually. "Some punks tried to rob me out past Mars, but I taught them not to mess with me." She winced as she dusted herself off. "Unfortunately the idiots totaled my bike, and I barely made it here.

Seeing that Benten was ok, Ataru rushed over with his arms outstretched to greet her. "Benten-chan, I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Darling," Lum warned him sharply.

"Oh, you're no fun," he replied, sulking.

"I see you've tamed him a bit," Benten said, laughing.

"Not really," Lum responded with an exaggerated sigh. "If he was really trained, he wouldn't go running up to visitors like that in the first place."

"Hey, I'm not a damned dog," Ataru yelled angrily.

"Yes, Darling," Lum responded in a patronizing voice.

He glared at her. "Oni."

She rolled her eyes dramatically at him "Yes, Darling, I am an Oni."

Ataru crossed his arms and looked at Benten. "All I get is insults, Benten-chan. I know you wouldn't treat me like this."

Benten chuckled. "I'd string you up by the heels if you were my hubby and acted like that," she told him matter-of-factly.

"Uh, I think I'll stick with Lum-chan," he answered nervously.

"Good call," Benten responded.

"Very good call," Lum said from beside his ear, before playfully nipping the side of his neck with her fangs.

He rubbed his neck and looked over at her with a grumpy expression. "Not like I've got a choice in the matter anywise."

"Nope!" Lum confirmed happily.

* * *

After they had relocated back inside Ataru's room, Benten sprawled out in the desk chair while Lum settled down on the floor nearby. Looking at them irritably, Ataru crawled sleepily back into his futon. He pulled the covers up as high as they would go, trying to ignore the two.

"Sorry about that," Lum said, nodding at the muttering mound of blanket. "Darling's not in the best mood if he doesn't get enough sleep."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Benten replied. "I'm inconveniencing you by visiting so late." She glanced over at Ataru, noticing the second abandoned pillow on his futon, then looked back at Lum with a raised eyebrow. "So, that's how you tamed him?" she asked with a pointed wink.

Lum blushed. "Not exactly," she murmured, twiddling her fingers.

The muttering from under the blanket covered Ataru continued at a slightly more intense tempo.

"So, Benten," Lum continued hurriedly, "what brings you to Earth this time of night?

"Oh, I almost forgot," Benten replied blithely. "I was in the area to visit Oyuki, and your dad asked me to give you a message.

"Why didn't he just call?" Lum asked curiously.

"You haven't replied to a single call in two weeks," Benten replied irritably. "Don't you ever go check your messages anymore?"

"I guess I've not been up to my UFO in a few days," Lum replied contritely. "I've just been so busy with school and stuff."

"I can imagine what kind of stuff," Benten said, gesturing in Ataru's direction.

"Darling does require a lot of attention," Lum agreed, missing her friend's insinuation.

Ataru peeked his head out. "What's that supposed to mean?" he groused.

Lum looked at him coolly. "If I didn't watch you, who knows what kind of trouble you'd get into."

He retreated back under the cover, the muttering starting anew.

Lum sighed. "So, what's Dad's message," she asked.

"He just wants you to come visit for a couple of days, said he missed seeing you," Benten said with a shrug.

"It has been awhile since I've seen Mom and Dad," Lum thought for a moment. "And I missed visited them for Setsubun." She glared at the covers. "Mainly due to Darling getting us banned from attending with his bad behavior last year!"

The muttering grew quiet.

"Then it's decided," she declared. "We'll go visit them this weekend." She smiled at Benten. "I'll give you a ride home on the way, ok?"

"Sounds good," Benten agreed. "My bike's pretty trashed."

"Alright, Darling, go get dressed, and I'll get Ten-chan ready," she told him.

"Why do I have to go?" Ataru said, his words slightly muffled by the blanket. "They said they wanted to see you, not me." He yawned loudly. "Plus it's too early to be up."

"You can sleep on the way, Darling," Lum answered him. "Come on, you've only been to Oniboshi three times ever, and we didn't get to stay long either time."

"You still haven't answered why I should have to go," Ataru protested.

She flew over to him. "Darling, do you really want to spend all weekend alone?"

"Maybe," he replied stubbornly.

"Well, I don't," she said, yanking back the blanket. Ataru looked at her a moment. "Please?" she asked in her most pitiful voice.

"Fine, fine," he finally relented. "But I better get plenty of chances to sleep on the way."

Lum beamed as she hugged her grumpy husband. "Thank you, Darling!"

* * *

Ataru groaned as he pulled a blanket over his head. "It's way too noisy in here," he complained.

"You aren't helping matters any," Ten responded sleepily from nearby.

"I can't believe Lum stuck us next to the engine room to sleep," he muttered irritably. "You can sleep on the way my foot."

"You could have slept in Lum's sleep chamber," Ten reminded him. "It's soundproof."

"That thing's too much like a coffin," Ataru responded. "It freaks me out."

"You really are a baby, Ataru."

Ataru reached out blindly and bopped the small Oni on the head. "I don't see you sleeping in there."

"I was keeping you company!" Ten cried out.

"Well, neither of us is getting any sleep in here," Ataru finally admitted. "You'd think such an advanced machine wouldn't be so damned loud."

"This UFO is an old model, and pretty run down," Ten observed. "Lum-chan should get it looked at when we get there."

"You don't think it'll break down while we're in space?" Ataru asked, starting to get nervous.

"Probably not," Ten reassured him.

"Now I really won't be able to sleep," Ataru muttered. He threw back the blanket and checked his watch. It was almost nine by his time, but he'd barely gotten any sleep between now and when they had left. Might as well get up and hope that he could sleep when they arrived.

Stumbling through the small and cluttered cargo hold, he managed to slide open the door and escape into the UFO's central chamber.

"What's the matter, Darling," Lum asked him from her seat near the controls. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Of course not!" Ataru grumped. "This ancient rust bucket is too damned noisy."

"Darling, my father bought me this ship," she warned him. "Don't make fun of his present."

"Bleh," was his response as he stuck out his tongue.

"Grow up, Ataru," Benten said from the floor nearby. She picked up another salvaged part of her ruined airbike and closely examined it. "Damn, is there not a single component that didn't get fried?" she moaned, tossing the junk aside. "This stuff is expensive to replace."

"So are roofs," Ataru muttered, leaning against the wall. "Lum, how long until we get there?"

"About an hour or so, I think," Lum replied, looking at the navigational computer's display closely. She banged her fist on it. "Yeah, about an hour."

"Don't forget you have to drop me off too," Benten reminded her.

"That's right," Lum replied. "So make that about and hour and a half, Darling," she told him while punching in some changes on the computer. She pounded her fist on it a few more times, then raised a thumbs up to signal her success.

"How long has it been since this thing's been looked at?" Ataru inquired worriedly.

I had to have the Dimension Stabilizer replaced after it crashed into Mendou's estate," Lum replied, trying to think. "I had to have some minor body work done then too." She looked up guiltily. "I guess I have been neglecting the maintenance schedule a bit."

"Very reassuring," he muttered.

"I always keep my bikes in top shape," Benten noted, still scavenging through the pile that had been her last airbike.

"That's because you wreck them so much that you have to constantly replace most of the components," Lum responded, sticking out her tongue.

Benten looked up with narrowed eyes, then laughed. "You two are a lot alike, you know that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" both demanded at practically the same time.

"I rest my case," Benten replied as she continued shifting through the pile of junk surrounding her.

* * *

After dropping Benten off, things were much quieter on board. To Lum's amusement Ataru had promptly retrieved his blankets and curled up in the middle of the main room. She wished she could join him, but someone had to keep an eye on things. Yawning, she inspected the status lights across the board. Everything was green still. Regardless, she made a mental note to get the ship serviced during their visit.

The final leg of their trip sped by without incident. Ataru was still sound asleep behind her when Oniboshi came into sight.

Lum started tapping in the approach instructions, then frowned. The engine output didn't appear to be dropping enough. She banged on the console, but there was no effect. Frustrated, she gave it a good kick. The gauges finally began dropping, but it was still more slowly than they should be.

As the planet quickly began to fill the viewscreen, Lum began to get worried. "Darling," she said urgently. "I'm having a bit of a problem."

"What is it?" he sleepily inquired.

"The ship's not stopping fast enough," she called out as she popped off the front panel of the console. She peered inside dubiously. "I don't know what's wrong."

Now wide-awake, Ataru sat up. "What are you saying?" he demanded.

"Not sure we're going to stop," Lum responded grimly as she dug into the computer. "I can't get the course to change either." She continued frantically digging as sparks flew from the open console. She ignored them, searching desperately for the wires that controlled navigation. After a moment she found them and yanked hard, ripping them loose.

Lum stood up and shrieked as she saw the planet's surface coming up far too fast. She grabbed the ship's controls and pulled hard, sending the saucer on a skittering path across the sky.

"Darling, hold on to something!" she yelled back at him. "I'm going to try to land manually."

Ataru scrambled to grab onto the only thing nearby, Lum's couch. He watched with wide eyes as the view steadily dipped down towards the ground. The ship shook violently as they skimmed along, only a few feet up.

A hill suddenly loomed before them, and the bottom of the UFO struck hard, throwing the front end into the air. Their momentum kept them sliding along over the crest and onwards for a couple of seconds longer. With a rending screech they finally came to a rest.

* * *

Ataru opened his eyes slowly. The inside of the ship was dark, but he could still see due to the faint glow from the blank viewscreen. He looked around panicked for a moment, then spotted Lum crumpled on the floor next to the still sparking console.

He rushed over, quickly checking her out. She wasn't conscious, but she was breathing steadily and didn't seem to have any serious injuries. Laying her down carefully on the couch, he suddenly remembered Ten.

"Jariten?" he called nervously into the pitch-black hold. "Jariten, the ship crashed. Are you ok?"

Silence met him for one fear filled moment. Then a shape emerged from the darkness, bawling as it latching onto Ataru's chest.

"Jariten, are you all right," he asked, concerned the Oni brat was hurt.

"Uh huh," Ten replied through his waning tears. Pushing off from Ataru, he peered around. "Where's Lum-chan?"

"She's over here," Ataru replied, returning to her side. "She got knocked out in the crash, but I think she's ok." He looked at her sleeping face for a moment, then looked worriedly at the still sparking console. "Ten, do you think you could call for help?"

Ten approached the communications console warily. "There's no power," he called back.

"Can't you fix it?" Ataru asked irritably, knowing the tyke's ability to build his own advanced toys.

"I don't know," Ten admitted. He disappeared into the engine room for a few seconds before flying back out in a panic. "We need to get out of here," he insisted urgently, flying to the ship's outer hatch. "The engine temperatures are too high."

"What's that mean?" Ataru asked, already gathering up Lum.

"It's probably going to explode soon, you idiot!" Ten yelled at him.

"Then get the damned door open!" Ataru screamed back at him.

Ten studied the switch for a moment. "We'll have to use the emergency release," he said, hammering on the thin glass that covered it.

Ataru slung Lum over his shoulder and made his way over. "Move," he commanded, then busted the glass in with his fist. He winced as a few small shards dug in.

The hatch shuddered for a second, then fell limply open. The two scrambled out, squinting in the sudden harsh sunlight. They appeared to have crashed be in a barren area of the planet, nothing but rocks and dirt stretching out as far as they could see.

"Jariten, how far away do we need to get?" Ataru asked, glancing worriedly back at the smoking ship.

"I don't know," Ten said, still looking scared. "Pretty far."

Looking worried, Ataru shifted Lum around to his back, then snatched Ten out of the air and stuck him roughly under his arm like a football. He started running, not knowing which way he was going, just eager to escape the area.

After about 20 minutes of flat out running, Ten finally spoke up. "I think we're far enough away now."

"Are you sure?" Ataru managed to gasp out.

"Pretty sure," Ten said confidently.

Ataru kept running for another ten minutes, just in case. At last he stopped, releasing Ten as he fell hard to his knees. Lum usually kept herself feather light, but with her unconscious he had been carrying her full weight. He carefully laid her down on the ground.

"Lum," Ataru murmured sadly, examining her carefully. In the better light he could see she had an angry looking bump on her temple. He hugged her close to his chest and waited, hoping she would wake up soon.

A few minutes later a hollow boom followed by two almost simultaneous loud explosions sounded in the distance. Ataru glanced back and saw a thick plum of black smoke rising from the direction they had come.

"Jariten, do you know where we are?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"Not really," Ten said, flying around and looking. "The planet isn't that densely settled still."

"Someone will surely see all that smoke though, right?" Ataru asked hopefully.

"Dunno," Ten replied. "It depends on exactly what part of the planet we're on."

Ataru groaned. "I don't know how badly hurt Lum is," he finally admitted, cradling her gently in his arms.

Hearing the worry in Ataru's voice, Ten flew back to them, starting to sob. "Lum-chan!" he cried, grasping at her shoulder. "Make her wake up," he pleaded.

"Jariten, calm down," Ataru said as forcefully as he could manage. "We're going to have to stay calm if you want to help Lum." He thought for a long moment, trying to think of a way to distract the boy. "Jariten, you're being enlisted."

Ten looked at him, confusion plainly written on his face. "Enlisted?"

"That's right," Ataru told him smartly. "Under emergency act 104, I'm enlisting you as an airborne scout for the 1st Moroboshi Ground Division.

Ten looked curious. "What's that mean?"

"From here on you follow my orders," Ataru commanded. Jariten started to protest, but Ataru cut him off. "If you do well on this mission of utmost importance, I'll personally see to it that you get both a reward and a commendation." Ataru paused, making up the game as he went along. "Now, Private Jariten, here's your first mission."

Well used to protocol from watching far too many movies, Jariten hesitantly saluted.

"I want you to fly up as high as you can go and see if you recognize anything, or see any signs of people. Then you are to report directly back to me." Ataru finished speaking, then returned Ten's salute.

"Aye," Ten said, drying his tears. He started slowly making his up higher, glancing around his as he went. Finally he was just a tiny dot against the blue sky.

Ataru watched Ten ascend for a moment, then turned his attention back to Lum. She seemed peaceful enough, lying there asleep in his arms.

Unbidden, a memory came back to him of a dream he'd long forgotten. She had lain in his arms then much the same way, unmoving, unfeeling. He choked back tears as he pressed his ear to her chest tightly. Listening intently for a moment, he closed his eyes in relief as he felt feel the steady beat of her heart against him.

"Lum, please wake up," he pleaded softly. "We still have so much left to do together." He paused for just a second. "Lum," he continued, "if you'll just wake up, I'll tell you those words you wanted to hear so much."

His eyes snapped open as he felt a hand gently caress his face.

"Darling," a weak but very welcome voice spoke.

"Lum!" he exclaimed he jerked upright. Her beautiful blue eyes were finally open, though she didn't appear fully awake. "Lum, are you ok?"

She blinked a few times, starting to come back to her senses. "My head hurts pretty bad, but I think so." She looked around curiously. "Did we crash?" she asked. Panic seized her. "Where's Ten?"

"He's fine," Ataru reassured her, pointing up into the air. "He's just scouting around."

Lum looked up, grateful to see a little dot darting around high above. "I'm so glad you're both ok," she gushed, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. She pressed her head against his chest and smiled. "Darling, I heard what you said," she said after a long moment. "And I'm going to hold you to it."

She felt a drop of moisture land on her cheek. Looking up, she saw Ataru was hastily wiping at his eyes.

"Lum," he muttered. "Don't scare me like that, idiot."

"Darling?" Lum looked him straight in the eyes.

"What," he asked gently.

"Tell me that you love me," she told him seriously. "I really just need to hear it right now."

Ataru remembered that once he had told her he wouldn't say these words until his deathbed. But now, after just having faced losing her, he wondered if he could really live with himself if she never knew for sure how he felt. Was a silly stubborn streak worth denying her that? 

He looked away while scratching the back of his neck. "Lum…" He swallowed and licked his lips. 

"Yes, Darling?" she prompted him. 

"I…" He paused for a long minute. "I think my leg's fallen asleep." 

"Darling!" Lum protested angrily. 

"Fine, fine," he replied irritably, gathering his courage. Putting on a serious face, he continued again. "Lum-chan," he almost whispered. "I love you." 

"Say it louder," she requested softly.

"I love you, damn it, is that enough already?" he practically yelled, turning away again.

"Oh, Darling!" she hugged him even tighter.

He looked down at her face, sparkling in the afternoon sun. "I really do love you, Lum. You know that, right?"

She wordlessly drew his head down and gave him a long passionate kiss. "I've had my suspicions," she confirmed breathlessly.

* * *

Ten started slowly swimming his way though the air back down towards Ataru. As he got lower he noticed with joy that Lum was awake now. He started to fly faster, then slowed down as he noticed that they appeared to be having a private moment.

"It's about time that idiot started treating her right," he muttered angrily. "To think, he put her through so much trouble."

He waited patiently for a few more moments until the two had separated, then continued back down, eager to greet his reawakened cousin.

"Lum-chan!" he called out. She looked up, beaming. "Lum-chan, I'm glad you're ok," he cried, rushing into her arms.

"Ten-chan, I'm really glad you're ok too." She gave him a hug.

"Your saucer blew up though," Ten told her sadly. "Core overheated."

"What?" she yelled. "Darling?"

Ataru wordlessly pointed to the rapidly disappearing column of smoke in the distance. "Yep. Blew real big." He frowned. "Why do you think we're out in the middle of nowhere?"

She sat down heavily, looking distressed. "Most of my jewelry and clothes were in there," she wailed.

"You moved a good deal of clothes into our room at home already," Ataru reminded her gently. "And you barely wear any jewelry anyhow."

"That's not the point," she said, sniffling. "Some of that stuff had sentimental value."

Ataru put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Lum. As soon as we can, I'll help you replace as much as we can. But those were just things. Everyone's ok, and that's what's important, right?"

She looked up at him. "You're right," she admitted. "I am really glad you two are ok." She thought for a moment, then giggled. "I guess we don't have to get it towed at least."

Ataru laughed. "True." He smiled at her, then turned to Ten, putting his arm on the boy's shoulder. "Private Jariten!"

The boy reflexively saluted.

"What's the status of your scouting mission?"

"Sir, there's a road over that way," Ten said, pointing. "And there was a house on it about 7 or 8 km away!"

"Excellent work, Private!" Ataru congratulated him. He turned to Lum, stretching out a hand to help her up. "Private Lum, to your feet, we've got a long march ahead."

Lum merely stared at them both, wondering when they had lost their minds.


	8. The Gracious Hostess

Ataru was suddenly regretful that he hadn't spent his time in P.E. class more productively. After all that running earlier he was exhausted, and it seemed like they had been walking this endless road forever. Well, he was actually the only one walking, he thought, glancing at the two floating beside him. For not the first time he felt a bit of jealousy towards Lum's ability to fly.

"You sure it was only 7 or 8 km to that house?" he asked again. The road seemed to stretch on to infinity before them.

"We should be getting close," Ten replied quietly. "Do you want me to go on another scouting mission?"

"Nah, save your strength, soldier." Ataru responded. Lum was already carrying the tired toddler; on his own Ten would have fallen behind a long time ago.

"Darling, are you sure you don't want me to try to carry you?" Lum asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ataru replied, waving his hand. "It'd be way too much of a strain for you to do that for long."

She quietly sighed. This weekend wasn't turning out at all how she'd hoped. Her ship was gone, her head was still killing her, and poor Darling still hadn't gotten much any sleep. She was amazed that he was in a relatively good mood after all this, let alone keeping Ten in good spirits as well.

Still, there had been some undeniably nice moments as a result. He had finally told her that he loved her. That was something she'd waited so many months to hear. Once she had wondered if she would be able to believe him if he did say those words, but when the time came there had been no doubt in her mind.

"I hope Dad and Mom aren't too worried," she said, trying to make conversation. "We were supposed to arrive a couple of hours ago."

"Too bad no one's come looking for us," Ataru observed.

"Sorry, Darling. Oniboshi doesn't have a radar grid or anything, so no one would have noticed our position."

"This planet seems pretty undeveloped for such an advanced race," Ataru muttered, looking around at the barren landscape.

"Well, Darling, this is a frontier planet, after all," Lum explained patiently. "Planet Uru is our original home planet. We only started settling here less than a hundred years ago."

"Is that right," he said casually. "You were born here though, right?"

"Yup," she answered. "Ran-chan and I were both born here, and so was Dad."

"So is your mother from that Uru place then?" Ataru inquired.

"That's right, she confirmed. "And Ten-chan's mother and father still live there."

"That's right," Ten piped up sleepily. "I stayed here with Uncle and Auntie a lot though."

Lum seemed happy that he was taking an interest in her history, so Ataru continued. "So, how come the Oni started settling here?"

"Uru's pretty crowded, so there's not much room for growth," she replied. "We should visit sometime though, they've got some great shops there."

"Someday," Ataru said noncommittally. He was thinking about other things now. "Was this planet originally inhabited?" he asked next.

"Ran's people started settling here a little bit earlier than we did, but other than that, there was only wildlife living here originally," Lum answered.

"Ah," he replied thoughtfully. "How'd they end up sharing this planet though?"

"A tag game was held," she replied. "Our champion won that time."

"That explains why the planet is called Oniboshi," Ataru guessed.

"Yes," Lum said hesitantly. "The Oni people aren't the majority here, but Oniboshi is considered a colony of Uru."

"So if I had lost the match, Earth would be a colony of Uru too, right," he asked suspiciously.

"I suppose so," Lum answered quietly. "It would have been our fifth colony."

"What if Earth had resisted, regardless of the outcome?" Ataru pressed on. It was something he had never before considered, but he had trouble thinking that many of the countries on Earth would have surrendered peacefully.

Lum looked down. "That's what our space forces are for," she admitted.

"What'd they want Earth for?"

"You'd have to ask Dad about that," Lum answered, looking away. "I wasn't really told myself." She sighed. "Since Dad was put in charge of that invasion force, the rules said that someone of his family had to be the champion. I was just the quickest."

"They never even told you what it was for?" Ataru asked disbelievingly.

"I swear, Darling, I wouldn't lie to you," she answered earnestly, looking him in the eyes. "All I was told was that Uru would take control of Earth if I won the game." She sighed. "I'm not sure the higher ups even told Dad exactly why they were sending him out there."

Ataru mulled over this a few minutes. "Well, I can't really agree with that kind of policy," he finally replied. "But I can't say I'm unhappy with the results." He smiled at her. "Otherwise we wouldn't have met."

Lum smiled back. "That's true, Darling. And you wouldn't have proposed to me."

"I tell you, I didn't," he explained for the millionth time. "Though it's lucky you thought I did."

She laughed. "Yeah, I think so too. You're too shy to propose for real."

"Hey," Ataru said, offended. "I just enjoy my freedom too much to get tied down."

"Who needs freedom when you've got me," Lum responded innocently. "You admitted yourself that you love me."

"What of it?" Ataru asked pointedly. "I can love you and still want to stay free, can't I?"

"Depends on what you mean by free, Darling," Lum said, her tone slightly less friendly. "I won't accept you saying you love me then chasing girls around hoping for a date."

"How often have I done that lately?" he demanded.

"Not very often since we were in the hospital," Lum conceded. "You've certainly calmed down a lot."

"So have you," Ataru noted thoughtfully. "Your temper has actually improved."

"You understand that's a cause and effect relationship, right, Darling?" Lum asked him. "You hurt my feelings, and it makes me frustrated."

"I don't try to hurt your feelings," Ataru protested. "We just don't think the same way about this kind of stuff."

"I suppose not," Lum agreed reluctantly. "But still, you've been pretty good lately. Is that because you don't want to make me mad, or because you don't want to hurt my feelings?"

Ataru thought for a long moment, then answered honestly. "A little of both, I guess. I don't know. I just don't feel like doing it as much anymore." He shrugged. "Things have been changing between us," he observed.

"Is that a good thing?" Lum asked him curiously.

"I like where things have been headed," Ataru admitted. "Could we just kind of see where this goes, and maybe not try to force things too fast?"

"I see," she replied dubiously. "Well, Darling, I'm really happy with the way things are going." She smiled at him. "I'm still hoping we can get married someday, but I won't force you into it." She paused then hesitantly asked, "You do think there's at least a possibility of that happening someday?"

"Idiot, don't ask questions you already know the answers to," Ataru said, looking away.

She smiled, content for now with his answer.

* * *

Eventually the house Ten had spotted came into sight. They crossed the remaining distance quickly, all three tired from their hot trip. To their disappointment the closer they approached, the more obvious it became that the building was long abandoned. The walls were weather worn, no vehicles sat nearby, and a sense of loneliness permeated the whole area. 

Ataru looked up at the strange misshapen dwelling curiously. "Where's the stairs?" he asked, being reminded vaguely of Ran's saucer home back on Earth.

"This is an Oni home," Lum responded. "We don't need stairs, and we can carry up any guests."

"I should have guessed," he said, noting the mostly faded tiger stripe motif still covering parts of the house.

Releasing Ten, Lum flew up to the front door. She knocked, waited a few moments, then knocked once more. There was no answer. After trying the lock, she finally decided just to blast it. Aiming carefully, she neatly hit the door with a strong charge, sending the door swinging open crookedly on its hinges.

"You think that's ok?" Ataru asked, looking around nervously. "Even if no one's living here, someone has to own this place."

"This is an emergency, Darling," Lum called, already entering. "Oh, it's nice and cool in here!" She peeked her head back out. "The power must be still working at least," she said before ducking back in.

"Must be nice," Ataru noted, wiping some of the sweat from his brow. Even in the shade from the building it was still pretty hot.

Lum soon returned. "Come on, Ten, you should get inside," she called out, snatching up Ataru and carrying him up towards the open hatch.

Ataru found it just as refreshing inside as promised. Leaning up against the wall, he slid down to the floor, glad to finally rest. He looked around curiously at the strange devices scattered around. Everything in here was so pristine that it was hard to believe the outside was so worn.

He looked closely around, wondering why anyone would just up and leave everything behind. Curiosity winning out over exhaustion, he lumbered back up and stumbled into what looked to be the kitchen. Opening what he assumed was the fridge, he peered in, amazed to see what looked to be food still inside. Knowing Oni food though, he couldn't tell how old it was, and he certainly wasn't about to try any.

Lum meanwhile had skittered off to another room, seeking out any form of communications devices. It wasn't long before she found the house's media console. Flicking on the viewscreen, she happily noted that the house was still connected to the communication satellite network in orbit. After a few minutes of playing with the settings, she dialed up her parents' house quickly, hoping they were still home.

To her joy her father's concerned face quickly appeared on the screen. "Lum!" he greeted her happily. "Where have you been? Your mother's been worried sick." He looked past her. "Where are you at?" he asked curiously, noting the strange surroundings.

"Hi, Dad," Lum greeted him wearily. "We're on planet, but my UFO kind of crashed."

"Crashed?" Invader demanded worriedly. "How bad is it?"

"We're all fine, but the UFO is toast," she replied sadly. "We found this abandoned house, that's where I'm calling from."

"How toast are we talking?" he asked more calmly, relieved they were ok.

"Engines apparently blew," she said casually.

Invader's eyes bugged out. "Do you know how much that ship cost?"

"It wasn't my fault," she protested. "The stupid thing wouldn't decelerate right."

"Have you been keeping up the maintenance," her father asked suspiciously.

Lum blushed. "I was going to have it looked at while we were visiting," she promised. "Anyhow, can we discuss this later? We're kind of stranded out in the middle of nowhere, so could you come pick us up?" She asked, flashing her most charming smile.

Her father nodded enthusiastically. "I'll be out as soon as I home in on the signal," he promised. "Just wait there."

"Thanks, Dad!" she said, leaving the console.

She wandered back through the house, looking for the others. Ten was easy to locate, as he had fallen asleep in the front room's floor. She soon found Ataru exploring the cabinets in the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Darling?"

"I don't know about you Oni," Ataru replied, still rummaging. "but people on earth don't just leave everything behind when they leave a house." He looked up. "Are we sure someone isn't still living here?" he asked.

"Pretty sure," Lum replied confidently. "The main consoles don't show any activity for about fifteen years."

"Fifteen years?" Ataru asked incredulously. "How can this place be so spotless after that long? There's not even any dust."

"Well, the air is being cleaned and circulated constantly by the computers," Lum replied. "And since home power cores last decades, it's really not surprising." She paused. "It is odd that it's just abandoned like this though," she noted.

"Guess we'll never know," he replied finally. "Hey Lum, do you think there's still any running water? I'm really thirsty."

"There should be," she noted, looking for the drink dispenser. "There it is," she said, pointing to an odd looking device next to the fridge. She pressed a switch on the side, causing a odd little plastic bottle to pop out. She passed one to Ataru, and then grabbed a couple more for herself and Ten.

Ataru looked at the bottle dubiously. There was a narrow end that he figured must be the top, but he saw no opening or lid. He watched Lum, hoping she could clue him in. To his dismay she simply bit the top clean off with her sharp fangs, then started drinking eagerly. He decided to try it, placing the top in his mouth and biting as hard as he could, without success.

Lum noticed his predicament. "Sorry, Darling," she apologized, grabbing the bottle back from him. She gave it a quick bite, then returned it to him sans the top.

"Thanks," he said with a touch of embarrassment. Taking a drink, his eyes widened as the foul tasting liquid filled his mouth. He sprayed it out hurriedly, narrowly missing a surprised Lum. "That's not water," he pointed out angrily.

Lum covered her mouth. "Sorry, Darling," she apologized again. "It actually is water, at least the base ingredient is. The drinking water here just has certain things added for taste."

"Things?" Ataru asked suspiciously. "Are you trying to poison me?" He demanded.

"Nothing harmful," Lum replied while playing with the dispenser again. "Just various minerals."

"Nothing harmful to you Oni, at least," Ataru noted, trying to spit out the remaining vestiges of the taste.

She handed him another bottle after removing the top. "Here, Darling, I promise this one is pure H2O," she assured him.

He looked at it warily for a moment, then poured a tiny amount into his hand. Tasting it carefully, he was relieved that it tasted fine. He quickly drank the rest.

"Ah, that was good," he told her gratefully, his thirst finally assuaged. "Did you manage to contact anyone," he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, Dad's on his way here to pick us up," Lum replied happily. "Why don't we go rest for a while with Ten until he gets here?"

Ataru, still worn out from both his lack of sleep the night before and the exertion after the crash, happily complied.

They were awakened after only a short time by Invader's loud voice heralding his arrival. Lum woke up quickly, grabbing her still half asleep Darling and nudging Ten awake. They exited the house to find not only Invader but also her mother departing their low hovering shuttle.

"Mom, Dad!" Lum happily greeted them as she approached them, still dragging Ataru. "Thanks for coming to get us."

"Lum!" Her father greeted her warmly. The huge Oni wrapped both of them in a great hug, nearly squishing them both, while Ten was cradled and cooed over by her mother. After a moment he released the relieved couple.

"Son-in-Law, you look well," Invader greeted him. "Are you treating my daughter the way a good husband should?"

"Yes, Dad, things are fine," Lum interjected. "We're perfectly happy," she assured him.

Ataru grinned and put his hand behind his head, nodding furiously. "Yes, sir, things are great."

"They'd better be," Invader growled at him, cracking a huge toothy smile. "Come on you, three, let's get you back home."

* * *

Even before they arrived, Ataru had started getting worried. The few previous times he had visited the planet, he'd never actually had to visit with them at their home. Remembering both the water incident and Lum's past attempts at cooking, he shuddered to think of the inevitable dinner ahead. 

Once they had actually gotten to their home, however, he started to relax a tad bit more. Lum's mother had escorted him graciously to one of the couches surrounding the table, and he'd had a cup of some unknown orange liquid shoved in his hand. Invader heavily settled down nearby, while the two girls had retreated giggling to the kitchen. Ten, still exhausted, had wondered off somewhere quiet to sleep.

Staring nervously at the cup in his hand, Ataru cautiously tasted it with the tip of his tongue. Surprisingly it tasted cool and refreshing, not the least bit spicy or bitter. Still he took a cautious sip first.

"What's wrong, Son-in-Law?" Invader demanded. "Do you not like it?"

"No, no, it's good," Ataru hastily responded. He took a much bigger drink, gulping it down nervously.

"Good, good, that's how a man should drink!" Lum's father yelled happily, slapping Ataru on the back and nearly knocking him out of his seat.

Ataru smiled weakly. "It's very good," he agreed.

"Dad," Lum's voice warned from the other room, "Don't be too rough on Darling."

"We're just having a drink," Invader roared back. "When's dinner."

" _Settle down, Husband ,_" Lum's mother called out. " _It will be ready soon_. "

Ataru stared blankly, wondering what she had just said. She always seemed to understand Japanese fine when spoken to, but he had yet to hear her speak a word outside her native language.

Seeing his confused look, Invader translated. "Dinner will be ready soon." He refilled Ataru's drink. "Come, drink some more with me!" He eagerly topped off Ataru's cup with a large jug.

Ataru complied meekly. He counted another 3 cups downed before the call of nature beckoned urgently. Looking around desperately, he finally spoke up. "Excuse me, sir, but which way to the restroom?"

Invader pointed irritably towards a plain door down the hall. "Hurry back, Son-in-Law, Dinner should be ready any time now."

Ataru stumbled into the small room and shut the door. Glancing around nervously, he sighed as nothing resembling a toilet presented itself. There was a bank of buttons on the wall, but he simply stared helplessly at them, worrying what might happen if he pressed the wrong one.

"Son-in-Law, dinner's ready!" he heard rumble from outside. "Hurry up!"

A light rap soon sounded on the door. "Darling, is everything ok in there?" Lum asked curiously.

"Um…." Ataru answered, embarrassed to say he didn't know how to use their bathroom.

"It's the third switch on the right," Lum told him, guessing his predicament. "Then the switch right below that when you're done."

He tried it, pleased to see a bulkhead slide away to reveal his goal. Quickly he relieved himself and hit the other switch. The toilet retracted smoothly back into the wall. "How do I wash my hands," he called out quietly.

"First switch on the bottom row," she responded promptly. He pressed it and a small sink revealed itself. He quickly washed up, then exited the room.

Lum smiled at him patiently. "Come on, Darling, dinner's ready."

They returned to the now occupied table, Lum settling close to Ataru's side. After the trouble he'd just had, he was relieved to see they used normal chopsticks.

Lum's mother laid their meals before them on elegant looking trays. " _Please enjoy_ ," she told Ataru kindly, patting him on the head. She settled down on the other side of the table next to Ten. " _I know it is not much, but I do hope you like it_ ," she said, adding to his confusion.

Ataru nodded humbly, figuring the gist of her words. "Thank you," he said, slightly sweating. He looked down at the meal before him. It seemed innocent enough, looking much like a rice and steak dinner from home. His chopsticks hovered nervously over the meal. He stared at the food, wondering hopelessly whether it would be worse to anger them or to just eat it and deal with the pain.

He glanced up, noticing everyone's eyes on him expectantly. Lum's mother smiled and urged him on, pantomimed using her chopsticks to eat. He blushed and decided to bear the pain, not wanting to insult her cooking.

Ataru picked up a bite of what looked like steak and nervously placed it in his mouth. After a moment he started to chew vigorously, amazed that it tasted delicious. He swallowed, then took a drink.

"Ah, it's very good," he announced.

Lum's mother beamed at his compliment for a moment and started eating as well. The rest of the table quickly followed suit. He sighed in relief as he continued eating.

Lum's father finished first, wolfing down his meal. "Is that it?" he demanded loudly.

" _That is all you are getting!_ " Lum's mother told her husband sternly.

Invader stared at her for a moment, then looked down. "Yes, dear," he finally acquiesced.

Lum giggled. "Dad is getting better, isn't he?"

Her mother nodded in reply. " _Some day I might have him trained_. "

Ataru kept his eyes down, not wanting the glare Invader was giving indiscriminately to fall upon him.

The rest of the meal went by without incident. As Lum's mother cleared up their trays, Invader pulled out another jug. "Come on, Son-in-Law," he urged Ataru, "lets have a real drink now!"

Lum gave him a stern look. "Dad, we're still minors." She hugged Ataru protectively. "

"Who asked you," Invader roared. "And who is going to know anyways?"

"I will," Lum growled back. "Now stop being so rowdy, we've had a hard day." She glanced at Ataru. "Darling, you'd like to get some rest, wouldn't you?"

Ataru laughed nervously, suddenly put on the spot. "I'd love to have a drink with you, but really I am quite tired," he stuttered.

"Nonsense!" her father insisted.

" _Dear, stop hounding the poor boy! "_ Lum's mother commanded from the other room. " _Let them get some rest_. "

Looking suitably chagrined, Invader surrendered. "Ok, Son-in-Law, another time then." He narrowed his gaze at Ataru. "Will you be needing a separate guest room?" he asked pointedly, remembering their sleeping arrangements last time he had visited the Moroboshi household.

"Ah…" Ataru started to reply, not sure what was the safest answer.

Lum blushed and shyly answered for him. "No, Darling will be staying in my room with me."

Her father laughed and slapped Ataru heartily on the back. "I see! That's my Son-in-Law."

Ataru, his face red, looked up weakly. "Ah…"

"Come on, Darling, let's go," Lum said, dragging him limply away.

Invader continued chuckling. "Have fun, you two!" he called after them.

" _Dear, stop embarrassing them_! " rang out from the other room.

Invader smiled, then turned to Ten. "Ten, it's just us two men now. I guess I'll have that drink, and you can keep me company."

Ten nodded happily, then floated over to sit on the large Oni's shoulder.

"So," Invader quietly asked, "Spill the beans, what's been going on with Lum and her husband?"

"Well…" Ten began.


	9. Troublesome Shopping Trip

"I never knew you liked pink so much," Ataru commented, looking around Lum's room.

"It's always been my favorite color," Lum said with a smile, slightly nervous to have a boy in her childhood room for the first time.

"Is that so?" Ataru said, casually storing that nugget of information away for future reference.

"That's right," Lum confirmed. "So, what do you think?"

Ataru studied the room with a critical eye. Most of the furniture and the large rug covering most of the floor matched the light pink walls perfectly. There were splashes of other colors of course, most notably the yellow and black tiger stripes adorning the large bed in the center of the room.

"This place certainly is big," he said, looking around. "Makes my room look tiny." He walked over to examine the large dresser in the corner. A multitude of framed pictures sat atop it, and he quickly scanned through them.

Spotting one of Lum and Ran as small children, he picked it up carefully. "Ah, you sure were a cute kid," he said over his shoulder.

Lum floated over and draped an arm around her Darling. "Are you trying to say I'm not cute now?" she asked teasingly.

"No, no," Ataru protested. He put the picture back in its place and picked up another one.

"That one's from Junior High," Lum informed him, looking at the picture. Benten, Oyuki, Ran, and herself were all sitting happily around Benten's first real airbike.

"You look a lot less innocent in this one," Ataru noted. She actually looked downright mischievous.

"I was a lot wilder in those days," Lum said with nostalgia in her voice. "We used to have crazy adventures all over the place."

"Must be pretty boring on Earth after that," Ataru said, putting the picture back.

"Not at all, Darling." Lum nuzzled up to him. "Things are usually pretty crazy around you."

"Thanks to you," he muttered, still browsing the dresser top.

"When's this one from?" he asked, pointing to a casual shot of Lum in a tiger striped body suit.

"That's from just before we met," Lum informed him. "Maybe a month or two before the tag game."

"Is that so," he said. "Man, you look so young here." He glanced around at her appreciatively. "You've really filled out in the last couple of years."

"Darling!" Lum replied, outraged.

"Idiot, I didn't mean it like that," he said irritably. "You're just more grown up now. Filled out in all the right places, if you know what I mean."

"That had better be what you mean," she warned. Lum looked at him a moment, then with a mischievous smile purposely pressed her body close against his back.

Ataru's eyes widened as his mouth drew into a goofy grin. "That's exactly what I meant," he told her.

"Darling," she whispered breathlessly into his ear, "why don't we go lay down now?"

"That's probably the most welcome thing I've heard all day," he replied, still grinning.

A few minutes later Lum was laying intertwined with her now snoring husband. She looked at his peaceful face slumbering next to her and sighed. She'd honestly wanted to at least cuddle a bit more before going to sleep, but remembering the day they'd had, she couldn't be too cross. A sleepy yawn soon escaped from her lips. "Darling, you idiot," she whispered lovingly, "only you would miss such an open invitation."

* * *

Early the next morning, a loud thumping on the room's door awaked the two with a start. The two scrambled to get presentable before answering the door.

"Get ready," Invader told them with a wide smile, "we're going shopping."

"Shopping?" Lum asked him sleepily. "Shopping for what?"

"I'm buying you a new ship, of course. How did you think you two were going to get home?" Invader laughed. "You'd better keep this one in better shape though."

"Really?" Lum squealed. "Thank you, you're the best, Dad." She hugged him tightly. "Can you really afford it though?"

"I got a pretty good bonus this year," the jovial warlord responded. "I think if I want to buy my girl a new ship, I can handle it."

Lum was practically jittery with glee as they got ready and boarded the family's shuttle. She set the more sedate Ataru down gently, then sat down next to him, happily humming a song.

"Hey, Lum," Ataru asked her after a few minutes, "I thought your dad was kind of the head honcho around here. So where does he get bonuses from?"

Lum looked over at him curiously. "Dad's one of the most important Oni warlords, but they don't run the government or anything like that. He gets paid just like your generals do back on earth."

"So you aren't really a princess like in the sense of royalty then, right?" he asked.

"The daughter of a High Warlord is always considered a princess," Lum explained, patiently. "It's been that way since the early days of my people, when the warlords were in charge of their respective tribes." She paused. "We've never had an imperial family or anything like that."

"Ah," Ataru responded simply, silently relieved. Being a normal guy, it had always slightly intimidated him that her people considered Lum a princess. He felt a little more on the same level as her now. "That's certainly interesting," he finally replied.

Lum leaned her head against his shoulder. "Darling, we'll be going to Planet Uru to look for a new ship," she explained. "We're going to a really big city, and it's easy to get lost, so I want you to stay right by my side the whole time, ok?"

"I'm not a little kid," he growled. "I've been all around Tokyo over the years."

"Yes, Darling," Lum warned him while straightening up, "But this place will make Tokyo look small. And also almost no one there will know Japanese." She frowned slightly. "Uru's a lot more traditional than Oniboshi.

"Is that so?" Ataru asked, getting curious.

Lum started to look uncomfortable. "Well, there are a lot of people who don't really care for other races. Things are totally different than on Oniboshi." She looked away.

"Sounds like a swell bunch," Ataru muttered.

"Things are slowly changing due to influence from the colonies, but I've heard that there's a lot of resistance to it," she stated sadly.

Ataru suddenly had another thought. "Lum, how come you and so many of your friends are so proficient at Japanese? It seems kind of odd that you would be." He'd never really thought about it before, just naturally accepting that he could speak with people from so many different worlds.

"Your language is actually pretty widely spoken in this sector," Lum told him. "No one's sure where it originated from, but it's kind of used as a common trade language between civilizations. We all learned it back in Planetary Elementary School." She glanced at him. "It was kind of surprising when we started researching you that your people speak it natively."

"Pretty weird," Ataru agreed, starting to lose interest. Then suddenly he realized what she had just said. "You did research on me?"

"Of course, Darling," Lum replied. "We had to know a few things about you before we issued the challenge."

"Like what?" he asked irritably.

"It was mostly on Earthlings in general," she explained. "What your physical capabilities were, what language you spoke, stuff like that." She looked away shyly. "I did do a little research on just you all by myself a couple of days before the tag race began."

"And?" he asked urgently. "What did you learn about me?"

"I found out you were well known around Tomobiki for being a troublemaker," Lum responded hesitantly. "Not to mention for chasing girls nonstop." She rested her head back on his shoulder and continued. "But I also found out you were a very kind person when you wanted to be. And incredibly tenacious once you put your mind to something."

"How'd you learn all that?" Ataru muttered, clearly embarrassed.

"I just disguised myself as an Earthling and asked around," she admitted. "I also secretly watched you a little bit."

"I really had no idea," Ataru replied, dumbfounded.

"Do you think I would have accepted your proposal without knowing anything about you?" Lum asked incredulously. "Darling, I was already falling in love with you by the first time we met." She snuggled closer to him. "And I'm really glad that things worked out."

Ataru leaned his head against hers in silent agreement.

* * *

When they arrived at the spaceport on Uru, Ataru began to understand what Lum had meant. The port alone was gigantic, stretching below them as they descended. Looking out across the city, towering skyscrapers sprouted up in dense clusters every direction he looked. It truly was a massive metropolis, utterly dwarfing anything on Earth.

As soon as they had docked, Invader had eagerly herded the two out of the ship and out of the spaceport, muttering anxiously about parking fees. He then took the lead, flying along while Lum hovered behind him, making sure to keep a firm grip around Ataru's arm. He looked a little irritated, but didn't shake her off as they chased after her father.

"It's only a few blocks to the place," Invader called back. "Don't dawdle.

Ataru looked around as they passed through the crowded streets. In every direction he looked there were hundreds, if not thousands, of Oni going about their daily lives. He soon became very aware as they continued on that he was attracting a lot of attention, none of it friendly. People stopped speaking and stared as he passed by, some of them with angry expressions. He started walking a little closer to Lum.

She looked down, sensing that he was getting nervous. It might not have been such a good idea to bring Darling along after all. She sighed. In the past she had rarely visited Uru, Ran and the others outright refusing to go. But she had been there with family and on her own a few times, and never had any issues. She was only now realizing exactly how xenophobic these people were.

She then started to notice a fair amount of the glares were being directed at her as well. Getting nervous too, Lum sped up a little bit, trying to close the rapidly increasing distance between them and her father. Between having to keep at a pace Ataru could keep up with and navigating the busy streets it wasn't easy, and soon became almost impossible.

A trio of large and rough looking Oni men purposely stepped into their path, crossing their arms and glaring at the couple. Lum had to come to a sudden halt to avoid running into them.

"_Well, well, well,_ _what do we have here_?" one of them asked.

"_What are you doing with that ugly creature? Is it some kind of pet_?" another snidely taunted.

The largest and most ugly of the three, apparently their leader, suddenly spoke up. "_Hey there, what's such a pretty little thing like you doing hanging around with this trash_?" He smiled and reached out a hand towards Lum. "_How about you ditch that thing so we can go somewhere private? Maybe have a little fun?_"

Ataru couldn't understand a word that was being said, but he could tell they weren't in a good situation. He wrapped his arms protectively around Lum's shoulders and pulled her back a bit, watching the three cautiously.

"_Hah_," the leader said, glancing at his friends. "_This shrimpy creature thinks it's real tough_." He stepped forward. "_Let's see how tough it is_."

"_Leave us alone_," Lum growled, looking angry. "_We aren't looking for a fight_."

"_Shut up, girl_," the thug replied. "_After I'm done showing this thing its place, maybe I'll teach you some obedience too_." The thug loudly cracked his knuckles and took another step forward.

Ataru pushed Lum behind him. "Whatever happens, you stay back," he ordered her, knowing her shocks wouldn't be very effective against another Oni.

"_Hey, boys, this thing is more stupid than I thought_," the leader joked. He raised a fist. "_I'll teach it to show some respect for its betters."_

Ataru raised his arms into a vague defensive stance, knowing there was no way he could win against this monster. Prepared to receive what he was sure was going to be a painful first hit, he blinked in surprise as a huge hand reached down and grabbed the man's upheld arm.

With little effort Invader picked the thug leader completely off the ground and tossed him aside. The man landed in a painful looking heap as his comrades rushed to help him up.

Standing between them and Ataru, Invader glared furiously at the three thugs. "_Are you actually threatening to hurt not only my son-in-law, but my daughter too?_" he demanded.

Ataru looked at the huge Oni in awe. He thought he had seen Lum's father angry before, but this was totally different. He backed up a step, taking hold of Lum's grasping hand.

The three men started backing away nervously, but Invader advanced steadily towards them. "_You're nothing but degenerate scum_," he hissed. "_I'll rip your miserable hides in half!" _

At that the thugs broke and flat out ran, quickly scattering into the crowd. Invader stared after them for a moment, then returned to the still scared couple.

He glared down at Ataru for a moment, then suddenly knelt and wrapped his thick arm around the shaking earthling's shoulders. "Son, you make me proud!" he roared, displaying his usual toothy smile. "I didn't know you had it in you, protecting my little girl like that!" He stood back up and patted Ataru affectionately on the head. "You're a true Oni if I ever saw one."

Lum practically tackled her still stunned Darling. "Darling, you idiot!" she bawled into his chest. "What would I do if you got hurt?"

Ataru wrapped one arm around her. "Lum, calm down, I'm fine, I'm just fine," he insisted, trying to comfort her.

Invader gently herded the two along. "Come on Lum, cheer up," her father told her. "You've got a good man here, you know that?"

"I already knew that a long time ago," Lum replied, starting to calm down.

Ataru put his hand behind his head and scratched his head in embarrassment. He hadn't even gotten hit and here Lum was making all this fuss.

* * *

The rest of the way to their destination, Invader stayed close behind the two, making sure no one else bothered them. Ataru noticed the crowd was now keeping a good distance from the huge Oni.

He looked around in amazement as they entered a large building. All around them hologram projectors were scattered, each showing a different ship. Everything from gigantic cruisers to small one-seated craft seemed to be represented in perfect three-dimensional detail.

Invader strode through the showroom confidently, leading them over to the small scout class section. Ataru noticed that most of them looked a lot sleeker than Lum's old saucer had.

Lum seemed excited again, the experience outside all but forgotten. She flitted quickly from one display to the next, discussing the details of each with her father. Ataru grew bored after a few moments, not really understanding most of what they were discussing. He did made sure to keep up with them, wary of getting separated from the large Oni again.

Lum suddenly turned to him, her eyes shining. "Darling, what do you think?" she asked him curiously.

Ataru stared blankly at her for a moment, put on the spot. "I don't really know much about this kind of thing," he finally answered weakly.

Lum looked at him with what he could swear was disappointment for a split second before turning back to converse with her father again. Ataru growled quietly, feeling completely left out. He tried harder to understand what they were discussing, but most of the terms they were using went right over his head. Without any frame of reference, stabilizing values, ion rates, and flux capacities really didn't mean anything to the average Earthling.

After what seemed like an eternity the two seemed to have reached an agreement on a ship. Ataru saw that it looked a little bit like the old one, but the overall shape was more of a curved triangle. The scrolling details appeared to be in the Oni language, so he really couldn't tell much else about it.

As Invader typed in the order at a nearby console, Lum turned her attention back to Ataru. "Do you like it?"

"It looks great," he told her with a smile, not sure what else to say.

"I'm glad you like it!" she said, giving him an excited hug. Ataru looked away pensively. He didn't think she had ever been this worked up before. Thinking ahead, he wondered what he could ever do or give her to make her excited like this. Nothing particularly came to mind.

Her father soon finished the order. "They'll be delivering it to the port in about an hour," he informed them. Patting his massive belly, he glanced around. "Why don't we go get some lunch?"

Ataru, never one to pass up a meal, agreed. As they hunted for somewhere to eat, he started having second thoughts. Lum's mother had made an excellent meal last night, but he suspected she had a better grasp of seasoning the food for its intended recipient than her daughter did. Lum always just made everything as hot as possible and expected him to enjoy it, no matter how many times he explained. How bad would an exclusively Oni restaurant be?

Stopping before a nearby restaurant, Invader ushered them in.

As she looked around, Lum gave her father a cool look. "Dad, you shouldn't eat so much fast food."

"You sound just like your mother," he groused. "This is what men eat, right, Son?"

Ataru promptly nodded, thinking of the beef bowl and ramen shops that he frequented at home.

"Darling, you aren't helping," Lum scolded him. "You could stand to lose a few pounds as well, you know." She put her hands on her hips and looked him over. "You really don't exercise enough either."

"I think I got plenty of exercise yesterday when I was carrying you," he muttered irritably.

Lum glared at him. "What was that, Darling?"

"What are you two muttering about?" Invader asked them loudly as he studied the menu.

"Did you already forget that I had to drag you out of your UFO and carry you and Jariten god who knows how far?" Ataru demanded, getting angry. "Worrying all the while that some kind of alien reactor that I don't know a damned thing about was about to explode behind me? I'd say I got plenty of exercise yesterday." He looked away. "I'd think that you could at least show me some gratitude for that."

Lum blushed and looked down. She hadn't yet mentioned to her father that she'd been knocked out. She knew he worried about her enough, so the night before she had downplayed the wreck as much as possible.

Her eyes opened wide as she realized that she hadn't considered how they had gotten so far from the wreck before it exploded. Between her headache and the shock of losing her ship, she hadn't even thought to say a simple thank you.

"Darling," she began contritely, "I'm sorry that I didn't thank you for saving us. There was just so much going on."

"Forget it," he said, still looking away. "It's not important."

"It is important," she began, putting her hand on his shoulder. To her dismay he shrugged away from her.

"Darling, I'm sorry," she repeated, getting upset. "Don't be like that."

Invader glanced back but decided to keep out of their quarrel. He started ordering instead.

"Forget it," Ataru said again between gritted teeth. "Let's just eat."

"Why are you so moody all of the sudden?" Lum tried to grab Ataru's arm, but he pulled away again.

"Just leave me alone," he said quietly. "I don't feel like arguing right now."

"Fine!" Lum said, turning away in a huff. "You are such an idiot sometimes."

Invader finally finished ordering and herded his irritated charges over to a table. The food arrived just a couple of moments later. As he started tearing into his own portion, he watched the two studiously looking away from each other, and grinned. It reminded him of many a scene from when he had courted Lum's mother.

Quickly gobbling down his own meal, the warlord noticed that they hadn't even started yet. "Eat up you two," he commanded.

Ataru poked at his portion of what looked remarkably similar to beef bowl. "I hope this is better than the Oni food my dear wife usually tries to kill me with."

Lum merely growled and started eating.

"Lum, do you not cook to your man's satisfaction?" Invader asked incredulously. "That's a very important part of being a good wife."

She glared over at Ataru. He merely smirked as he continued poking dubiously at his food.

"I can't help it if my husband is clueless about taste," she replied irritably. "And besides, why are you taking his side all of the sudden?"

Invader stared at her for a moment. "I'm not taking anyone's side!" he protested. He grumbled for a moment. "Son-in-Law, hurry up and start eating. I ordered it with almost no spices, so it should be suitable."

Ataru hesitantly took a bite. "Ah, it's good!" he exclaimed, gobbling down the rest at breakneck speed.

Lum glanced over at him guiltily. She had tried lessoning her use of spices a bit in the past, but he had still acted like such a baby over it. Earth food was just so bland; she had trouble imagining he actually enjoyed it without some flavor added.

"I'm sorry," she finally whispered. Ataru grunted noncommittally as he kept eating.

"Son-in-Law," Invader spoke up after a moment. "When are you going to make an honest woman out of my daughter?"

Ataru almost choked. It took Lum pounding on his back several times before he was able to continue. She glared across the table while Ataru took a drink.

"I agreed not to pressure Darling so much," she informed her father. "When he does propose, I want it to be entirely his decision."

"I see, I see," Invader nodded enthusiastically. "Lum, you've really grown up a lot."

He turned his attention to the suddenly meek Ataru. "You have too, Son-in-Law. Now I want to tell you to something." He was entirely serious for once. "When Lum first decided to live with you, I was against it."

Lum started to interject, but he waved her down.

"I even tried to get her to marry another guy soon after that, I don't know if she ever told you that."

Lum giggled quietly. Darling was the only one who didn't realize that everyone else knew he had been part of the Anti Matchmaking Front that had broken up that long ago matchmaking party.

Ataru merely raised an eyebrow as he finished eating, not willing to reveal his secret knowledge of the matter.

"I'm glad that didn't work out," Invader continued smoothly. "I think you do make Lum happy, even if you two do bicker a lot." He leaned down, eye to eye with Ataru.

"You've made me really proud the last couple of days," Invader told him. "Ten told me all about how you saved both of them. And then you protected my daughter earlier today as well." He paused. "No matter the formalities, you're part of the family, my boy. I just wanted you to know that."

Ataru looked down, embarrassed. "I don't know what to say, sir, that really means a lot to me," he managed to force out. He subtly took hold of Lum's hand and squeezed it under the table. "I'll do my best to live up to your expectations," he finally said more calmly, bowing slightly.

Lum hugged her Darling tightly, making him blush even brighter.

Invader smiled, happy that he had not only set his son-in-law's mind at ease, but also made the two entirely forget their earlier squabble.


	10. Two Weeks

Arriving back at the spaceport, Lum clapped her hands in glee as her shiny new UFO came into sight. Grabbing Ataru's hand, she hurried him along to take possession of it from the delivery company. A few minutes later they were taking off, following Invader's shuttle back to Oniboshi.

"It handles so much smoother, doesn't it, Darling?" Lum cooed, running her hand lovingly across the sparkling console. 

Ataru agreed. "You can barely hear the engines at all." He looked around, abashed that he knew so little about this kind of thing. "It's certainly a lot bigger than your last one too," he noted. "What features does this thing have?" he asked cautiously, not expecting he would be able to understand most of her answer.

Lum glanced back at him. "Well, it's got a good sized bed for one thing," she mentioned offhand. "I know you didn't like that sleep chamber, and it was too small for two people anyhow."

Ataru blushed. "That could be nice," he agreed, thinking of how comfortable her old bed had been the night before.

"It's got a full sized pantry, laboratory, kitchen, a retracting table, and 2 couches," she continued on, checking each item off on her fingers. 

Is this a UFO or a house?" he asked sarcastically. 

"Ran-chan uses her UFO as a house, and it's about this size," Lum answered casually. "Dad is being very generous buying me this nice deluxe model." She paused for a moment, looking embarrassed. "He kind of hinted that it's a wedding gift for us, even if we weren't actually married yet." 

Ataru looked at her with wide eyes. "You mean he was buying this for both of us?" he asked.

"Yep," Lum confirmed. "He said eventually we'd want to move out of your parents house, and that we needed a good place to start out."

"Is that so," Ataru answered, stunned by Invader's kindness. 

"I think he'd been saving up towards this for a while," Lum mentioned. 

"And here I thought until today that he didn't like me much," Ataru mused. 

Lum smiled. "He's grown fond of you over time," she explained happily. "And my mother absolutely adores you."

He blushed, thinking of her pretty mother.

"Darling!" Lum scolded him, figuring out his thoughts. "That's your mother-in-law!"

He forcibly turned his thoughts to a safer subject. "So, what's all that technical stuff you were discussing earlier mean?" he asked curiously.

She frowned at him. "Well, I'll explain it best I can. I'm not that good with this stuff myself, and some of it is complicated" she confided, making him feel a bit better. 

"Well, stabilization comes from a device called the Dimensional Stabilizer," she explained. "That's the part that broke on my old ship that one time, and it's what keeps the ship hovering in one place." She smiled. "This one has much higher specs than that one did, so even the roughest weather and such shouldn't even bother it." She paused for a moment. "I had to remote control my old UFO up into low orbit when we had that last typhoon, but this one would be fine."

Ataru nodded, following along pretty well so far. "That's not too complicated," he noted.

"Now the engines use simple ion propulsion for normal space travel," she continued. "But there's a system called a Warp Core that powers the interstellar engines and lets us travel so fast between systems." She paused. "Don't ask me how exactly that works, I don't know either." 

Ataru continued nodding, getting most of that. 

"This ship's ion rate is much higher, so the slowest part of the trip, getting in and out of systems, will be good bit faster," she explained. 

"Gotcha," Ataru replied, remembering how long it took Jariten's tiny ship to make it past Pluto.

"That's pretty well the basics," she concluded. She smiled. "I didn't know you were interested in this stuff."

"Well, I like to read car magazines sometimes," he pointed out. "It's kind of similar." 

"Maybe you should look into a technical career," Lum suggested. "Have you thought about what kind of job you want after college?"

"I just know I don't want to be just another Salaryman," Ataru admitted. "Dad gets hassled all day at work, then he has to work all that overtime constantly."

"Father does have it rough," Lum agreed. "It doesn't seem to pay all that well either."

"I know," Ataru agreed somberly. "We get by, but you know how tight Mom keeps the budgets."

She nodded. "Well, you could always ask my Dad for a job," she suggested. "There are lots of non combat fields under him."

"Yeah," he said, "But I'd kind of like to make my way on my own as much as possible. Plus I like living on Earth." He looked at her with a gentle smile. "But I'll keep that in mind," he promised her.

* * *

When they arrived on Oniboshi, Invader insisted that they stay for dinner before beginning their trip home. Lum had protested that they had school in the morning, but he reminded them that the trip home should take less time now.

Ataru sat with his father-in-law at the table again as the women retreated into the kitchen, but tonight Invader seemed much more subdued. "How's the new saucer?" he casually asked after a while, leaning back and taking a long drink.

"It's really nice," Ataru said hesitantly. "Lum is really happy with it."

"Good, good," the Oni replied lazily. "I assume she explained how things stood, right?"

Ataru looked down. "We both really appreciate what you've done." 

Invader looked embarrassed. "Don't worry about it, you're family." He stared hard at Ataru. "You two should really come visit more often," he said. "Your mother-in-law really likes seeing all of you."

"Ah, I see," Ataru replied reflectively. "I'll see if we can do that, Lum and Ten seem to be happy to visit as well." 

"That's good," Invader replied nonchalantly. He glanced at the clock. "How's dinner coming?" he bellowed toward the kitchen.

"_Pretty soon, dear_," came the reply.

"Ah," Invader sighed. "It'll be ready soon," he translated for Ataru's sake.

"Thanks," Ataru replied quietly. 

"You know," Invader began hesitantly, "I know you didn't have a very pleasant experience on Uru today, but please don't judge all Oni by that." He paused, looking embarrassed again. "Your mother-in-law and Ten's family, they don't think like those xenophobes do, they're from a much more progressive part of the planet." He sighed. "It was one of the things that caught my attention when we started dating." 

He glanced up, surprised to see his wife hovering over his shoulder. "Ah, don't sneak up on me like that!" he protested.

She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, much to his embarrassment.

"Dinner's ready!" Lum said, carrying the remainder of the trays. She laid out her own and Ataru's while her mother laid out the ones for herself and her husband. Ten soon came floating in carrying his own and settled next to his aunt again.

Ataru looked at tonight's meal, which appeared to be some sort of curry rice dish. He tasted it eagerly and smiled. Not bad, it was slightly spicier than he was used to, but not unpleasantly so. He glanced up, noticing Lum's mother was expectantly watching him again. 

"Ah, it's delicious," he said truthfully.

She smiled, but shook her head and nodded towards Lum.

"You made this?" he asked incredulously.

Lum smiled shyly. "Yeah, but Mom gave me lots of advice." 

"It's really good," he confirmed, returning to his meal.

"I'm glad you like it, Darling," she replied cheerfully.

* * *

After dinner, the three finally said their good-byes and set off for home. To their relief the trip was uneventful, and within a few hours they were hovering high above Tomobiki.

"Seems like we've been gone a while," Ataru noted, looking at the tranquil town below them. "But I guess it's only been two days, after all."

"It's been a long weekend," Lum agreed, cradling a sleeping Ten. She fought back a yawn. "Do you want to go on home, or just stay here tonight?" 

Ataru glanced at her. "We could just sleep up here tonight," he decided after a moment. "I wouldn't mind trying out that new bed."

She smiled sleepily. "Mom packed me some extra blankets before we left, so Ten-chan will be ok to sleep on the couch." 

"Sounds good," he agreed.

Lum left to put Ten to bed, leaving Ataru alone for a moment. He stood there looking out the window for a few minutes longer. He'd never been in her old UFO this late before, and the view was truly stunning. He sighed, enjoying the peaceful night. 

A hand slipped stealthily around his chest. "Darling, it's a nice night, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "Seems a shame that we have go get up and go to school tomorrow."

"We could always skip," Lum suggested slyly.

"Better not," he decided after a moment. "The semester's almost over, and finals are coming up."

"That's true," she conceded. "It'll be nice to see everyone again too, I guess."

"I haven't seen any babes in days," he commented wryly. 

"You've got a babe hanging off you right now," she purred into his ear. "What more do you need?"

He pretended to think for a moment. "Nothing more," he finally admitted. 

"Good answer," she responded, "but next time make up your mind faster."

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied with a faint smile. 

Lum leaned more heavily against him. "I had a nice time this weekend, all things considered," she told him. 

"Yeah, aside from the whole crashing thing," he replied with a smirk. "It wasn't a bad trip."

"Thanks for agreeing to go, Darling," she said, starting to nod off. "Thank you for everything."

Ataru turned and deftly scooped her up. She looked sleepy, but still amused at him. 

"Let's go on to bed," he told her softly, heading towards the bedroom.

"I love you Darling," she whispered softly, toying with one of his shirt buttons.

"I love you too," he replied with little hesitation.

* * *

"I can't believe we overslept," Ataru griped as they hurriedly threw on their school clothes. 

"Sorry, Darling!" Lum said again as she finished adjusted her scarf. Smoothing down her skirt, she crossed the room and helped him finish buttoning his uniform.

"We don't even have time for breakfast now," he said regretfully as they fled downstairs and grabbed the packaged lunches his mother had prepared. "We're going now!" he called out as they kicked their shoes on. 

"Have a good day!" Mrs. Moroboshi called from the other room.

Ataru raced down the street, grumbling as he went. Lum flew by his side, easily keeping up. 

"Darling, I said I was sorry three times already," she protested. 

"It's fine," he gasped out. "We just need to figure out how to set the alarm correctly next time we sleep up there."

They made it to class a bit late, but luckily not before homeroom was over. Ataru quietly slunk to his seat under their teacher's calm gaze. Lum simply glided over with a smile and sat down like nothing was wrong.

"You are late, Moroboshi," the teacher commented, starting a long speech about the grave importance of punctuality to the spirit of learning. Hanawa-sensei was by far the nicest of their teachers, but he was also one of the most annoying at times.

"Sorry, Hanawa-sensei," Ataru replied without thinking. "We have this new alarm clock you see, and Lum just set it wrong."

Lum smacked his shoulder irritably. "You don't have to blame me," she hissed.

Hanawa looked shocked for a moment. "You mean you two live together?"

Ataru looked up in disbelief. "We've lived together for almost 2 years now." he replied hesitantly. "Everyone knows that."

The other students nodded. Ataru's relationship with Lum was old news not only at school, but also all over the district.

Their teacher adjusted his glasses stuffily. "I knew you too were close friends, but I really had no idea."

Ataru laughed. He knew their homeroom teacher was clueless, but this took the cake.

"Ok, settle down," Hanawa finally said. "We'll discuss this further after school."

* * *

Onsen-Mark grumbled as he thought about the lunch he was missing while Hanawa rambled on to the principal. 

"Hanawa-san, you are aware that the rest of the faculty already knows about the Moroboshi boy's living situation, correct?" the elder man said patiently. "I'm not sure why you felt we needed to have an emergency meeting about this."

"How could you not know?" Sakura interjected forcibly. "You've been their homeroom teacher for almost an entire year." 

"I'm their English teacher, and I knew about it," Onsen added irritably. 

Looking around the table, Hanawa felt distinctively outnumbered. Even the tea sipping Kotatsuneko seemed bored by the conversation. He briefly wondered why a giant cat was having tea with the principal, but decided it wasn't important at the moment.

"But it just doesn't seem right," Hanawa protested. "How are students supposed to concentrated on their studies in such an environment? Is it not our duty to try to guide them, both body and spirit, towards scholastic excellence?"

"I will admit both Moroboshi and Lum are far from the top of their class," the principal stated. "However Moroboshi's grades certainly haven't dropped any since this situation began. If anything they've slightly improved. And from seeing the transcripts her father brought me, Lum's grades haven't suffered either. She excels at math and science, though at Japanese and English she is average at best."

Hanawa started to object but was once more interrupted. 

"Furthermore," the principal continued smoothly, "Both the Moroboshis and Lum's parents fully approve of their children's living arrangements." He took a long sip of tea before continuing. "It's really out of our hands, and what's more, I really have no interest in interfering in this matter." 

Hanawa looked down, defeated.

"However," the principal spoke up, "I do appreciate that you have taken an interest in their performance. It's always encouraging to see a teacher go beyond his usual duties to give extra attention to students, especially ones who have had such a bad experience recently." 

He looked across the room. "Onsen-Mark-san, I would like you to work with Hanawa-san to help those two improve their grades. I believe they look to both of you more than their other teachers."

Onsen looked up in surprise. "I-," he started to protest, but then noticed Sakura watching. "I'd be glad to help," he finished lamely. Any chance to score points with the beautiful school nurse was worth taking.

Hanawa smiled and nodded, enthusiastic about the chance to help the two students improve.

"Excellent," the principal responded. "I expect to see conclusive results on the upcoming finals." He waved a hand in dismissal. "I'd like to have my lunch now, if that's ok with everyone."

"I'm ok with that," Cherry eagerly agreed, appearing from behind Kotatsuneko. "What are we having?"

* * *

Lum and Ataru waited nervously in their seats after the last period of the day had let out. Hanawa-sensei had been quite clear after lunch that he wasn't done talking with them, and Onsen-Mark's inclusion wasn't reassuring. 

"There's no reason to be nervous," Hanawa told them. "You aren't in any trouble." 

"Oh, that's good!" Ataru responded happily. "We'll just be going now," he said, beginning to stand.

"Sit down Moroboshi!" Onsen roared. "And try listening for once."

Ataru sat back down with a frown. 

"In lieu of your recent health related absences, not to mention the amount of classes that you two have either interrupted or flat out skipped," Hanawa continued cheerfully, "the principal has asked us to give you some extra tutoring for the finals."

"That means you two are staying at least an extra two hours every night for now on," Onsen-Mark informed them. "And you're coming in on the weekend too." 

"That's totally unfair," Ataru objected. "We haven't missed that much class."

"Shut up!" Onsen yelled. "This isn't up for debate. As is you have little chance of passing these finals. What are you going to do next year when you don't even have a prayer of passing the college entrance exams?"

"What about me?" Lum asked as innocently as she could.

"You haven't been doing as well as you could on your modern Japanese quizzes, or English for that matter," Hanawa said gently. 

"That's discrimination," she complained. "I can't be expected to know Japanese as well as well as a native speaker." She glared over at Ataru. "And Darling's usually the reason English classes get interrupted."

"Hey!" Ataru retorted angrily. "You cause most of it."

"Blehhhhh," she replied, sticking out her tongue.

"Both of you shut up!" Onsen-Mark said, slamming his fists on Ataru's desk.

They both straightened up. 

"I'm not happy about having to stay more hours either," Onsen said, trying to look stoic, "but I'm going to work hard on this." He smiled chillingly. "And you two are as well."

"We'll be making up a series of short quizzes each day," Hanawa-sensei explained. "If you pass those quizzes, you get to go home. Else you'll keep studying until you do." 

"You can say goodbye to summer vacation if you don't do well," Onsen said threateningly. 

Ataru sighed. "All right!" he said grumpily. He looked over at Lum and grinned wickedly. "At least I'm not stuck here alone."

"Darling, you're terrible," she said irritably.

* * *

And so the first of their two weeks of do-or-die tutoring classes began. That night they were in class for a full five hours before Ataru had answered enough questions to satisfy Onsen-Mark. Lum would have been released in three, but she hung around and continued studying, not wanting to leave her husband suffering by himself.

That night, after a quick dinner of instant ramen noodles, they headed up to their room, utterly worn out. Ataru promptly laid face down on the floor, trying to recover.

The sound of a book being loudly cracked open on the desk prompted him to open his eyes.

"Darling, get up, we need to study," Lum told him gently. 

"Don't want to. That's all we've done this afternoon," he protested. 

"Darling, you've got a lot more to cover than I do. And I'm not staying that long every night just because you're being lazy," Lum growled into his ear. "Now get up, and we'll study together."

Ataru hopped up, knowing better to argue with her tone. "What are we studying?" he asked with a hastily plastered grin.

"English, tonight," she said with a sigh. "It's probably our worst subject." She gave him a quick kiss. "After we get caught up on that, you're going to help me on Japanese, and I'll help you on the science and math stuff." 

"Alright," he agreed wearily. "That sounds fair."

Several hours later they retired, both utterly exhausted.

"How are we going to keep this up for two whole weeks?" Lum groaned as she settled into his arms. 

"If it's to save our summer vacation, we've no choice," Ataru replied sleepily. 

"That's true," she mused. "Plus you needed this push to do better."

"What about you?" he retorted. 

"I'm mostly in school to be with you, Darling," she reminded him.

"That and your father insisted you stop bumming around town like a derelict all day." 

Lum blushed. "He told you that?"

"Your reaction just did," Ataru replied. "I figured since you tended to hang out at my desk regardless of being enrolled that there was something else behind it."

She giggled. "You caught me, I guess."

"I always catch you," he joked. "Eventually."

"That's because you play dirty," 

"Says the girl who flies during a game of tag," he groused.

"Oh, hush," she commanded him.

* * *

The next day they managed to get out about an hour earlier than the previous night. Ataru walked silently beside his hovering wife as they set out for home. 

Darling, you really studied well last night," Lum complimented him. "I'm proud of you."

He looked down in embarrassment. Even though they had gotten out earlier, he'd still felt like an idiot as he kept getting questions wrong. "I'm still not doing very well," he admitted. "This stuff is pretty hard, you know?"

"That's why I'm proud of you for not giving up," Lum told him. "I know you aren't dumb, you just don't pay enough attention in class and never study."

"That's true enough," he agreed casually, crossing his arms behind his head as he walked. "I know I'm not really that smart or anything though. I guess I just got discouraged over the years and stopped trying."

"You might surprise yourself if you keep at it," she suggested. 

"Thanks, Lum," he replied quietly. "At least you have confidence in me."

"You should have more confidence in yourself, Darling," Lum admonished him. 

"Let's hurry home," was his only answer. "We've still got a lot of stuff to cover."

* * *

The busy days passed quickly, and soon they were getting down to the wire. Only one more night remained before the finals. 

"Moroboshi, this is still wrong!" Onsen complained, tossing his latest quiz back down on the desk. "Try it again."

Ataru groaned and buried his face in his arms. This wasn't going well. They had been getting out after only a few hours each night, but the two teachers just kept making the quizzes progressively harder.

"Onsen-Mark-sensei," Lum scolded him, "You shouldn't be so hard on Darling. He's really trying his best."

"It's for his own good," the teacher muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow. 

Hanawa meekly spoke up. "Lum, you need to get back to work as well. I'm afraid your latest quiz isn't satisfactory." 

"Oh!" she exclaimed in frustration, then started scribbling furiously again. 

After a moment Ataru raised his head and continued as well, glaring at his paper as if it was his greatest foe.

An hour later the two were released with the recommendation that they go home and rest so that they would be fresh for the exams in the morning. 

Onsen-Mark crossed his arms as he watched from the window the weary teens walking home together. "You know," he commented hesitantly, "I'm really proud of those two. I can tell they really are trying this time."

"Do you think we've been too hard on them?" Hanawa asked cautiously. "I mean, slipping in material from the senior year curriculum seems a bit unfair."

"It was the only way," Onsen said patiently, still staring into the darkness. "Moroboshi was doing too well. I know him, he would have started slacking off if we hadn't kept challenging him." He turned back. "You were concerned about those two living together, but that's probably why Moroboshi has been doing so much better lately. He's desperate to prove himself to Lum."

"You may be right," Hanawa agreed pensively. "He's certainly changed a lot since that horrible incident with Megane." 

"That's true," Onsen replied with a smile. "Well, we should head home as well. Tomorrow's the day of truth, after all."

"Indeed it is," Hanawa nodded. 


	11. Exams Day

Ataru slowly opened his eyes, awoken by his mother's yell to get up. He blinked once in confusion at the pair of feet directly in front of his face. 

"Lum?" he called sleepily as he peeled back the covers. "How do you manage to completely flip around like that that without waking me up?" he muttered. It was one of the bigger if more unimportant mysteries of his life.

He finally uncovered her head at the far end of the futon, her hair splayed out wildly. She murmured in protest as the sunlight streaming in through the windows met her half-asleep eyes.

"Time to get up," he sighed, sweeping the hair out of her face.

"Is it really, Darling?" she said with a small yawn. 

"It's exams day," he reminded her. "We don't want to be late."

Her eyes widened as she slowly levered herself up. "What am I doing facing this way?" she asked with a frown.

"Good question," he remarked as he started gathering his school clothes.

Lum managed to get to her feet. "We should have went to bed earlier," she said regretfully. 

"Probably so," Ataru agreed. "But it was either sleep or to cram."

After getting dressed, the two made their way down to breakfast.

"Big day today," Mrs. Moroboshi remarked as they sat around the table. "Feeling up to it?"

"Not particularly," Ataru responded with a yawn. 

"You'd better do well," his mother insisted. "You're getting too old to slack off all the time."

"Yeah, yeah," Ataru said with a casual wave of his hand, his attention focused on eating. 

"We've been studying really hard, Mother," Lum commented. 

"I know, Lum," Mrs. Moroboshi replied, "and I'm sure you'll both do fine."

"Thanks, Mom," Ataru said, finishing his breakfast quickly. "Lum, are you about done?"

Lum, eating at a more leisurely pace, waved lazily at him to settle down. 

As soon as Lum was finished eating, Ataru rushed towards the door. Grabbing her bag, she followed as quickly as she could.

"Darling, what's the rush?" she asked when she caught up. 

"I'm afraid I'm going to forget everything," was his hurried answer.

"The exams are going to start at the same time no matter how fast you get there," she reminded him. "And you aren't going to forget, we've been over and over the material."

"Hope you're right," was his only response as he continued his fast pace towards the school. Every moment saved walking would be another moment for last minute cramming.

* * *

Tapping his pencil impatiently on the desk, Ataru stared at the almost completed English exam before him. Something had to be wrong. A lot of what he'd been studying this week wasn't even covered here, and what was covered seemed to be the easier material. It still wasn't easy, but it wasn't overwhelming either. 

Unused to not being lost on a test, Ataru was well towards freaking out, second-guessing every problem. He quickly finished the last few questions, then started rechecking his answers. 

He snuck a quick glance towards Lum and noticed that she was apparently finished as well, staring off into space while nibbling on her pencil. He knew she usually had some trouble with this subject as well, so it calmed him down a small amount to see her relaxing. 

He turned back to his own paper and started rechecking again. It'd been the same way with the general science and math exams earlier; everything had just seemed so manageable all of the sudden.

He had only barely started his second time rechecking the answers when time was called. He passed his paper up grudgingly. 

Onsen-Mark collected the papers quietly and stepped out, giving a brief greeting to the incoming Hanawa-sensei as they passed.

"Good afternoon," Hanawa greeted the class. "I'm sure you're all tired, but there's just this one last exam, and then you can start your summer vacations. Please bear with us just a little longer." 

He started passing out the Modern Japanese exams. Ataru took his glumly and started working. This one wasn't bad so far, but it wasn't his worse subject either. He felt worse for Lum, who had much more difficulty going back and forth between the modern and archaic forms. They'd spent a lot of time studying for this exam at his insistence, since she was helping him so much on the other two other subjects. 

He worked through the test, slightly more confident on this one. Like the other exams, it wasn't nearly as hard as he had originally feared. He took his time and diligently worked through the translations, making sure that he didn't make any careless mistakes. 

When time was finally called, Ataru passed up his test with a grimace. Now that all the exams were completed, he would have to wait until his and Lum's were graded before they could leave. Their entire vacation depended on the next few minutes. 

The other students, dismissed, started filing past. Mendou paused for a moment by Ataru's desk, as if to say something, then shook his head and continued on, while Ryuunosuke merely gave them a casual victory sign on her way out. Perm, Chibi, and Kakugari actually stopped and wished them luck, much to Ataru's surprise.

Soon only Ataru and Lum were left, nervously waiting while Hanawa-sensei worked on grading their exams. After a few moments Onsen-Mark returned and sat down nearby, his face unreadable.

"How do you think you did, Darling?" Lum asked him quietly. 

"Honestly, no clue," he sighed. "I'm kind of afraid to find out."

"I'm sure you did fine," she replied, then looked down nervously. "That last subject was hard, I'm glad we spent extra time on it."

Ataru nodded in agreement. If at least Lum did well, he was willing to call it a triumph, even if he'd still be stuck in class all vacation. Glancing over, he noticed her watching him out of the corner of her eye. 

She smiled and silently mouthed, "I love you." 

He felt his heartbeat speed up slightly. Looking down in embarrassment, he wondered why he had wasted so much time in the past running from such a beautiful and adoring girl. As the minutes passed Ataru began dreading anew the announcement of how he had done. He was sure it wouldn't be good. Lum was bound to be disappointed in him yet again.

Hanawa cleared his throat and beckoned Onsen-Mark to join him. They bent heads together, sharing a rapid whispered conversation. Finally Onsen turned to the two students, slapping a hand down on an empty desk to get their attention. Their heads snapped forward, eager for news.

"We've finished grading your exams," Onsen-Mark announced in a grave voice. "Now since we all graded you two's exams first, we have no idea yet how you did compared to your classmates, or the rest of the second year students." He paused for a long moment, building up suspense. "However, I expect you both will rank well above average."

He smiled tightly. "You've made a few mistakes here and there, but overall you both did an amazing job on every subject. Moroboshi, your lowest score was in Math, and you made an 85 in that." He turned his attention towards Lum. "Your lowest was in Modern Japanese, and that was an 83." 

Onsen crossed his arms and sat down. "You two are dismissed. Whatever class you end up in next year, I'm sure I'll be seeing you then."

Ataru stood up, only to be tackled by a hovering Lum. "Darling, I'm so proud of you!" she told him. "You did really well."

He blushed and looked away. "You did great too, Lum." 

Hanawa stood and clasped his hands together. "I want to tell you two that we are both really proud of the effort you put forth. To see the spirit of learning so strong in both of you is truly inspirational." The teacher paused, overcome with emotion. "I hope that you will continue to work this hard in the coming year." He bowed slightly to them.

"Well, go on, get out of here," Onsen-Mark told them, looking embarrassed. "Have a good vacation."

Bowing slightly to both teachers, Ataru silently left, Lum still attached firmly to his arm. 

* * *

As they passed by the student store on their way to the entrance, Ataru paused just in time to avoid the door flying out into the hallway, followed closely by Mr. Fujinami. He glanced up at them with a grin, then rushed back in, yelling something about Hamajaya. They heard another crash followed by more shouting from Ryuunosuke. 

"Looks like they are the same as always," Lum said with a smile. "Do you think they'll try to open shop on that little island this summer?"

"Probably," Ataru mused, stepping carefully over the fallen door. "We ought to pay them a visit sometime before vacation is over."

"I think so too," she said happily. "We'll have plenty of time now." She gazed at him for a moment.

"What is it," he asked warily. 

"I'm really proud of you, Darling. You really did well," Lum replied, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you for all the time we spent on the Japanese material too."

"We worked so hard for so many hours," Ataru commented casually. "It's not that hard when we both work towards something like that."

"That's right," she agreed merrily. "I can't wait to get home and let mother and father know the results."

"Why don't we stop somewhere and get a bite to eat first?" Ataru suggested as they left the school building. 

Lum nodded. Since it had been a shorter day than normal, they hadn't had a lunch period, and she was getting hungry as well. 

"Where do you want to go?" she asked him. "The beef bowl place, or the ramen shop?"

"Eh, let's splurge a bit," he responded. "We haven't been on a date in over two weeks, and I've got a bit of allowance saved up. We should celebrate." He thought for a moment. "How about that nice Ikakuchoo restaurant?" 

"That's the place we went on our first date, Darling," she pointed out with a smile. "You remember?"

"Of course I remember," he replied irritably. "It wasn't that long ago."

"Seems like it was," she said thoughtfully, holding a finger up to her chin. "I had to beg you to take me out."

"A lot has changed," Ataru agreed casually. "And for the record, you didn't so much beg as threaten."

"Begging alone wasn't working," Lum retorted with a tiny grin. "You are a stubborn guy."

"Is that so?" He turned to face her. "I had a lot of fun in the end though."

"I know," she responded as she remembered the hectic but fun time they'd had. "I really did too."

They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the warm summer afternoon. 

"Darling?" Lum hesitantly asked him. 

"What is it?" he replied.

"Do you think you would ever want children," she shyly inquired.

Ataru was floored for a moment. He looked at warily, then replied. "I already have to deal with Jariten. If that's what parenthood is like, I dunno."

"Ten-chan's a bit rambunctious," she admitted, "but he's a fairly good boy. And we'd raise our child better, for sure."

"Couldn't do much worse," he quipped casually. "Well, I wouldn't even consider it unless we were married, and I had a good job," he admitted. "It'll be years before we get to that point."

"I know," Lum sighed. "But it's nice to dream about the future now and then, isn't it?"

Ataru didn't respond for a few minutes, so they continued again in silence.

"I don't think I'd mind having a daughter someday," he suddenly blurted out. Turning red, he continued. "I mean, I don't know how well I'd do by a kid, but you'd be a really good mom, I think." 

Lum smiled and drew closer to him. "You'd be a wonderful daddy, Darling."

"You think so?" he asked dubiously.

"I know so," she firmly replied. "You bicker with Ten-chan a lot, but he looks up to you." 

"Maybe I should be nicer to the little flame-thrower," Ataru mused. "He might be good practice."

"Darling?" Lum called out from behind him.

"Yeah?" he said, still thinking.

"We're here, Darling," she informed him patiently.

He turned in surprise. "Sorry," he said. "I wasn't paying attention."

They entered the restaurant and were quickly seated at a booth. After ordering two steak and rice meals, they sat quietly sipping soda and watching the crowds walk by outside.

"Ah, what a cute girl," Ataru remarked at one point.

"Darling," Lum growled softly. "Don't tell me you are getting fickle on me again."

"I was just making an observation," he said defensively, before noticing the sad look in her eyes. "Don't be like that," he said more gently, starting to look distressed.

Lum pouted for a moment longer then smiled. "You really can't resist the soulful eyes routine, can you?"

Ataru gave her a funny look. "That's not really fair."

"You like getting bitten better, Darling?" Lum asked playfully.

"Do you know how much that stings?" Ataru demanded.

"Depends on how hard I bite, I'd imagine," she responded coolly. "Remember those bottles back on Oniboshi?"

Ataru turned a shade paler. "You're kind of scary, you know that?"

"That's how I keep my poor misguided Darling in line," she replied. 

A waiter approached the two hesitantly to deliver their meals, then quickly retreated.

"I wonder if they remember the last time we were here?" Ataru asked dryly.

"I don't know, Darling," Lum replied, also curious about the waiter's timidity. "I was hiding my horns and wearing my hair differently last time."

"That's true," he said, "but your hair color is pretty unique."

"I suppose here it is," Lum agreed with a shrug. "It's really common back home though." She looked at him for a moment. "Darling, Do you like my hair color?"

"Don't ask embarrassing things like that in public," was his only answer.

"Well, would you rather I looked like an Earth girl?" was her next hesitant question.

"Not really," he answered casually. "I've gotten rather used to you."

"What kind of answer is that?" she asked quizzically. 

Ataru set down his chopsticks. "Would you rather I looked more like Rei?" he asked her in return.

"No Darling, I like you just the way you are," Lum answered sincerely. 

"Then you know my answer as well," he retorted, returning to his food.

* * *

Ataru rubbed his belly appreciatively as they neared home. "That was good," he said, his comment punctuated by a long yawn. "I feel like taking a nap now." 

"We've still got a while before dinner," Lum pondered. "And we didn't get much sleep last night." 

They entered the house and kicked off their shoes. 

"Mom, we're back," Ataru called towards the kitchen.

"Welcome back," she yelled back. "How did you two do?"

"Pretty good," he replied. "We'll be up in our room if you need us."

"Alright," his mother yelled. "I'll call you for dinner."

Once upstairs, Lum shut the door behind them. "Do you want me to lay out the futon?" she asked.

"Nah, don't bother," Ataru replied lazily, already spreading out on the floor with his hands behind his head. He laid down on his back, then beckoned for her to join him.

With a smile she did so, cuddling up close to his side. 

"Gotcha," he teased, putting his hands over her horns.

"You already had me, silly," she replied sleepily. "You've had me since the first time you caught me."

"Is that so," he said, releasing her. "Well, I'm never letting you go," he retorted, sliding his arm around her. 

"Fine by me," she responded, taking his hands into her own. 

Ataru was just drifting off to sleep when he felt a faint tingle begin in his hand. It took a moment to realize what it was. "Lum, I think you're slightly electrocuting me," he said gently.

"Oh!" she said, releasing him as the realization hit her. "We forgot to tie my ribbon on."

He quickly untied the ribbon from her hair and tied it back on her horns, then settled back down. 

"I'm sorry, Darling," she said, snuggling back into his arms. 

"Don't worry about it," he murmured. "It wasn't enough to even hurt."

* * *

Awoken by his mother's call, the two went downstairs and joined the rest of the family for dinner.

"Oh, Ataru, you got a letter today," Mrs. Moroboshi commented after they had finished eating. She handed it over to him, then started cleaning up. 

Ataru looked at it dubiously. There was no stamp or address on the plain white envelope, meaning it had to have been hand delivered. The front simply said Moroboshi Ataru.

Lum peered curiously over his shoulder. "Who's it from, Darling?"

"Dunno," he said, ripping it open. He scanned the contents quickly. "Huh," was his only response.

"What is it?" Lum demanded impatiently. 

Ataru cleared his throat, then started reading the letter aloud. "Dear Moroboshi, Lum-san," he began pompously, "You have been formally invited to attend a commencement of summer event at the Mendou Estate. The party will begin at noon tomorrow. Please bring swimwear, towels and refreshments will be provided." He paused for a second. "Best Regards, Mendou Shutaro."

"Oh, that sounds fun," Lum replied. "Darling, do you want to go?"

"I guess," Ataru replied, looking thoughtful. "You know, I think this is the first time Mendou's actually invited me to anything."

"We've been invited to lots of parties before," Lum protested.

"Yeah, but I always just tagged along," Ataru reminded her. "Mendou usually just invites you."

"That's true," she said thoughtfully. "But he never turned you away once we arrived either."

"He knew you wouldn't stick around without me," Ataru countered. "I wonder what he's up to this time."

"He could just be being friendly," Lum suggested.

"We'll see," he replied with a frown. 

His father lowered the newspaper slightly. "Ataru, you shouldn't always assume the worst." 

"Half the time he shoots at me," Ataru retorted. "It's always better to assume the worst." 

"Is that so?" his father said, returning his attention to the paper. "Well then, good luck, son."

"Don't worry, Darling, I'm sure he's just being nice," Lum reassured him. 

"I hope you're right," Ataru replied, though he didn't look very convinced. 


	12. The Mendou Summer Blowout

"Darling, at least try to have a good time," Lum admonished her scowling husband as they made their way down the street. "Look, it's a beautiful day, and we've got an entire summer without classes," she insisted.

"Yeah, yeah," Ataru replied irritably. He suddenly straightened and laughed. "Mendou probably thinks I don't have a clue as to what he's planning. That gives me the edge."

"You don't know that he's planning anything," Lum reminded him. 

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that." Ataru smiled. "And that's why I'll be one step ahead of him."

Lum frowned. Something was very wrong with his logic, but she decided not to argue it. "Just try to behave," she sighed. "I don't want to have to drag you home again."

He continued muttering to himself, but kept an overt eye on her. Wearing a cute shirt and vest with shorts, she was stunning as ever. Surely she had to be the prize Mendou was seeking in this little game. 

They soon arrived at the massive front gates, surprisingly open for once. A small group of Shutaro's black suited men lounged lazily around the entrance. Ataru eyed them, certain they were in on whatever plot was being hatched. 

One man hopped up and approached them, clipboard in hand. "Names?" he inquired.

"Moroboshi Ataru and wife," Ataru responded confidently while Lum gave him a curious look. 

The guard stared at them for just a moment, his eyes unreadable behind his dark glasses. He scanned the list briefly, then checked them off. 

"The young Master is awaiting you," he told them while pointing to a small jeep that was pulling up. Another almost identical black suited man sat ready in the driver's seat. "If you'll please board the vehicle, you'll be escorted directly to the party."

The two hopped in, and were soon speeding down the long front road towards the estate proper. The man with the clipboard watched for a moment then spoke briefly into the intercom next to the gate. His task complete, he turned back to his companions.

"That was the last two guests," he announced, tossing aside the clipboard. "Close the gates so we can start our own little party!" 

Two of the group hurried to comply.

"Sir, shouldn't we wait for Shiro to return?" another asked.

"Nah, he'll be right back after he drops them off," their squad leader replied. "We'll barely make a dent in the sake before then."

* * *

"Ah, Lum-san, you look exquisite as ever," Mendou greeted them from the front door of his manor as the two disembarked from the jeep. 

Ataru scowled at him. "What about me?"

Mendou gave him a disturbed look. "Moroboshi, you actually expect me to compliment your looks?"

"That's not what I meant!" Ataru yelled. "I was invited here too, the least you could do is give me a proper greeting," he grated out.

"My apologies, Moroboshi, you are of course correct" Mendou said, slightly bowing. "Welcome to our humble home." He raised an eyebrow in annoyance as the jeep abruptly squealed out behind them, heading back towards the gate. "Please excuse my men for their lack of manners."

Ataru, pacified for the moment, allowed Mendou to lead them inside. He glanced around the empty front room. "Are we the first ones here?" 

"Not at all," Mendou responded smoothly. "Actually, you were the final guests." He turned, heading down the hall at a good clip. "Please, this way."

Lum nudged Ataru forward. "Darling, be nice." 

Ataru gave her a compassionate look. Poor girl, she was nothing but an unsuspecting pawn in Mendou's insidious game. Ataru strengthened his resolve not to let his guard down. He was determined to keep her safe at all costs from the wealthy playboy's advances. 

Reaching the rear door ahead of them, Shutaro waited for the couple to join him. As they drew near, he discreetly tapped twice on the door behind him. He grinned slightly in anticipation as he heard final preparations going on outside. 

As the approached, Ataru looked around nervously. Mendou was gesturing for them to continue ahead of him. Surely whatever trap he had set up was right behind that door. Ataru stopped just short. 

"Mendou, why don't you go ahead of us?" he asked while confirming that Lum was still safely by his side.

"No, I insist, you two first," Shutaro replied nervously. 

"I refuse," Ataru stubbornly responded; he was now sure that some dark fate lay just beyond this door.

Lum sighed. "Come on, Darling," she said impatiently, dragging him forward.

"No, Lum, stop!" Ataru cried in warning, but it was too late, she was already throwing the door wide open.

"Congratulations!" rang loudly out the moment the door opened. 

Ataru blinked in confusion, looking around at the group of people gathered around outside. It appeared every single student from class 2-4 was present. "What's going on?" he asked. 

"It's called a party, Moroboshi," Mendou said smoothly as he stepped out from behind them. "And you two, as the most unique pair in our 'Classroom of Failures', have been selected as our guests of honor today." He bowed low in a dramatic flourish.

The couple looked around in awe at the scene. A large number of tables had been set up near the pool, many holding various snacks or drinks. In addition to the students clustered around them, Onsen-Mark, Hanawa-sensei, and the principal were seated around a nearby table with Sakura, Cherry, and Kotatsuneko at yet another. 

"I…I don't know what to say," Ataru finally spoke up. He glanced at Lum helplessly and noticed she was starting to tear up. He steeled his resolve and continued, "Thanks, everyone. It's really been a great year."

"Speak for yourself, Moroboshi," Onsen-Mark called out jovially, obviously a bit drunk already. 

Lum wiped at her eyes. "Thank you all for accepting me into your class with so much warmth," she told them. "I've really appreciated all of your kindness."

"Well," Shutaro said after a moment, "since everyone is now present, we should go ahead and start the party. There are changing rooms set up at the east end of the pool, so everyone should feel free to take advantage of them."

* * *

Soon the party was in full swing as the students either hung out in the pool or sunbathed nearby. Hanawa and Sakura quickly found themselves having to ensure no students got into the water too soon after eating, while Onsen continued merrily getting drunk. Cherry, on the other hand, had apparently made it his personal crusade to consume as much of the Mendou's bountiful food as possible. 

After changing into his swim trunks, Ataru plopped down poolside to happily stare at the all the female students in their bathing suits. 

"Darling, what are you looking at," an annoyed voice soon asked him. 

His eyes widened as he realized Lum had already returned. He'd hoped she would be off changing for a few more minutes.

"Nothing at all," he started stuttering as he turned around. He suddenly stopped talking entirely as he caught sight of her.

Even though Ataru was well used to Lum in her tiger striped bikini, the sight of her swimsuit choices always left him trying to catch his breath. Her choice of a well-cut one piece today certainly did the job.

She settled down gracefully next to him, enjoying his undivided attention. "_Now the trick is just to keep it_," she told herself.

"Darling, how do I look," she asked as innocently as she could manage.

"Ah…" he began. "Stunning," he finally managed to say.

Lum slowly crossed her legs at the thigh, keeping her eyes intently locked on his. "Is that so?" she asked with a wink.

Ataru swallowed hard, his thoughts a complete jumble at this point. 

"A…ta…ru…kun," she playfully tapped out on his nose, enjoying the chance to tease him. 

Seeing that his mouth was hanging slightly open at this point, she almost giggled. This was a little too easy. Still holding his gaze, she gave him a gentle push, all which was needed to send the half catatonic Ataru backwards into the pool.

He came up gasping for air, her spell broken. "Lum!" he shouted angrily, "what the hell was that for?"

She looked at him wide-eyed. "What was what for?" she asked him, batting her eyes innocently.

He turned away in a huff. "That wasn't funny." Hearing a giggle behind him, he merely closed his eyes, unwilling to give her the satisfaction of any further reaction. 

"Darling," a soft voice whispered directly into his ear, "won't you give me a kiss?"

Ataru blushed and dove under the water. Sitting on the bottom of the pool, he could see Lum hovering directly over ahead, peering down at him. Getting an idea, he covertly folded his legs under him, then launched himself straight up towards her. 

He breached the water like a bullet and made a desperate lunge. Grabbing hold of her around the middle, he pulled her shrieking down into the water.

She came up spluttering as Ataru grinned and lazily swam backward away from her. "It's cold!" she shouted. For one long moment she glared at him, then burst out laughing herself. "Get back here!" she told him as she started to give chase.

* * *

From a table by the pool, Shutaro calmly sipped tea as he watched his classmates frolicking in the water. His attention first wavered to Shinobu, sitting all alone on the far side. He frowned slightly, seeing that she looked rather forlorn, no doubt because her boyfriend Inaba hadn't been able to make it. He contemplated going over to keep her company, but worried how she would take his interest. 

Next he focused his attention on the frantic splashing and yelling that was originating from none other than the party's guests of honor. He smiled as he thought of his failed attempts to win Lum's heart. 

Even though he had known she wasn't interested, he still had tried his best. Not only had he been unsatisfied with the way Moroboshi treated her, he just couldn't allow himself to give up as a matter of pride.

And yet here those two were, obviously with eyes only for each other. The change had been subtle for a long time, then amazingly swift. Shutaro idly wondered what exactly had happened during that fateful week that had shifted Moroboshi's personality so much. 

It would be easy to blame the stress of the incident with Megane, but there had been signs even before that had happened. In any case, Shutaro had known it was time to throw in the towel. The way Moroboshi had acted with Lum during his brief time visiting them in the hospital had merely confirmed it.

Finally making up his mind, Shutaro set out for where Shinobu was sitting. Settling down next to her, he offered her another cup of tea, which she gratefully accepted.

"I'm sorry Inaba-san couldn't make it," he began awkwardly. He wondered when so much distance had grown between them. Shinobu had doted on him for a long time, but due to his disinterest had finally moved on without he even noticing.

"It's ok," Shinobu replied. "He had to work again, they keep him pretty busy."

"It must be rather… different to date someone who literally holds your destiny in his hands," Shutaro mused. 

"A bit," Shinobu admitted. "But he's pretty limited in what he can do, especially since he got in trouble for that whole key mix-up."

"Ah," Shutaro answered noncommittally. He'd not been involved in that particular adventure but had heard stories.

"How's Asuka-chan?" Shinobu asked after a moment. 

"The same as ever," Shutaro answered glumly, thinking of his supposed fiancée. "Still terrified of all men except her brother and myself."

"That girl's a bit crazy," Shinobu remarked offhand. "No offense meant," she hastily added.

"I fully agree with you, actually," Shutaro said, shuddering. The girl charged like a rhino and hugged like a gorilla.

Shinobu giggled. "It seems like you have the worst luck with women," she said. "Again, no offense intended."

"That is true," he agreed. "Sakura-sensei has been engaged this whole time, Lum-san is practically married, and the girls that actually like me I tend to ignore." He paused and smiled reflectively. "I'm probably the biggest fool of them all."

"Possibly, but I don't have much better luck," Shinobu comforted him. She looked towards the couple still making a fuss in the pool. "They seem to be having a good time," she noted.

"Yes, they certainly do," he agreed.

"You know, once I promised to marry that idiot," she remarked. 

Mendou raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I hadn't heard that story," he admitted.

"It was before you started going to our school," she explained. "We were just starting to go steady when the first tag race happened." She looked a bit embarrassed, but continued. "When it was down to the final day, I promised him I'd marry him if he could win."

Mendou nodded. Video of that fateful match had been played over and over on the news for weeks afterwards. "So when Moroboshi said he could finally get married, he was talking about you?" Mendou guessed. 

"Yeah," she sighed. "I was really upset about that for a long time, but now I think everything turned out the way it did for a reason." She abruptly laughed and pointed towards the pool. "Honestly, can you think of a better match than those two?"

A particularly loud bout of splashing and yelling rang out across the air, followed by laughter. 

Shutaro didn't answer for a long moment. "I believe that you are correct," he finally agreed.

"Indeed, they are truly destined for one other," Cherry stated calmly.

Shutaro turned his head slowly towards the tiny monk, noting that his hands were still full of food. "Did I even invite you?" he asked irritably. 

"Inviting a holy man to any event is always an auspicious decision," Cherry replied, nodding sagely.

"That doesn't answer my question!" Shutaro insisted angrily. 

Shinobu giggled as the two argued back and forth. Soon their argument resulted in Shutaro chasing the hapless monk across the lawn. Looking up at the clear blue sky, she stretched and lay down, trying to enjoy the warm sunshine.

* * *

Ataru looked around warily. Lum was nowhere in sight, and that was starting to worry him. He appeared to be alone on this end of the pool, their antics having encouraged most of their remaining classmates to shift subtly to the other end. 

He shifted his gaze down to the water, turning around often. She was hiding somewhere, and he knew she would have to come up for air sooner or later. 

The water erupted behind him and he spun around to grab her. He clutched only open air as he realized she was now hovering overhead. 

"That's not fair," he informed her. "Getting out of the pool is cheating." 

She stuck out her tongue. "I'm still over the pool," she pointed out. "If it's out of bounds, then you shouldn't have grabbed me out of the air in the first place."

He thought about it for a moment. "Well, at least stay low enough that I can reach you."

"I've got a better idea," she said, looking towards the tables. "We've been swimming for hours, and I'm getting tired. Why don't we go get something to eat?"

"That would work as well," he agreed with a grin. He made his way over to the nearest ladder and climbed out. Lum quickly flew off and brought back a couple of towels so that they could dry off.

"That was fun," he said, sitting down to rest for a moment. 

"I thought so too," she agreed, busy drying off her long hair. Stepping away from him a bit, she built up an electrical charge over her body, just enough to evaporate the rest of the water off.

"That's rather handy," Ataru commented, admiring his slightly steaming companion. 

"Isn't it?" she replied with a smile. "Ran-chan always used to get irritated at me because I didn't have to dry off after a bath."

He ran off to throw their towels to a nearby bin, then together they went to try the selection of snacks Mendou had prepared. After only a few minutes of sampling the wide variety, they stumbled upon the three former stormtroopers propped up against the side of a table. 

"What happened to you guys?" Ataru asked, dubiously toeing Perm in the side.

Perm opened his eyes a bit and groaned. "I think we overdid it a bit," he explained. 

"I don't ever want to look at food again," Chibi moaned miserably. He poked at Kakugari, but their large friend appeared to have passed out already. "You think he's ok?" he asked plaintively. 

"Probably," Perm replied, obviously unconcerned. "Ataru, watch out for the cakes." He groaned again as he thought of them. "They're all really good, and it's hard to stop."

"Ah, you guys are lightweights," Ataru replied loftily. "I'm about to show you all what a Moroboshi can do."

"Darling, you should watch what you eat," Lum scolded him between bites. 

"It's a special occasion," he responded irritably. "Besides, if I didn't eat well, Mendou might feel slighted. 

She rolled her eyes. "Don't come crying to me when you get a stomachache."

"Lum," Ataru replied, suddenly serious. "It's my solemn duty as a young man to eat as much of this free food as I can."

She gave him a critical once over. "You're going jogging with me every morning this summer," she finally decided.

Ataru merely raised a single eyebrow in defiance, then turned and began stuffing himself.

Lum looked at Perm for support, but he appeared to have already passed back out. Grumbling, she went back to delicately picking out a few choice morsels for herself. 

"Lum," Ryuunosuke greeted her curtly, "you should try some of these, they're really good." She gestured towards a half empty plate of cupcakes. "My old man always told me they were poisonous," she continued angrily, stuffing another one in her mouth as she spoke. "I'm going to cream him good when I get home."

Lum smiled sweetly. "You two certainly have an interesting relationship," she answered as neutrally as she could.

"He's always doing crap like that," Ryuunosuke replied, not pausing in her mission to demolish the platter. She suddenly stopped eating and donned a furious expression. "You've were just swimming, weren't you?"

"Yes?" Lum answered, not sure what was going on.

Ryuunosuke looked around, suddenly noticing that most of their classmates who had been in the pool were now engaged in eating as well. "That bastard told me you couldn't eat for five hours after swimming in a pool," she yelled angrily. 

Taking advantage of Ryuunosuke's violent ranting at her absentee father, Lum quietly excused herself and moved on.

"Now where has Darling gotten to?" she muttered to herself, not seeing him anywhere. Finally she spotted him sitting hunched behind another table, surrounded by purloined treats. Deciding to leave him to his food, she sighed and looked around for someone else to talk to.

"Shutaro!" she called out merrily upon seeing their host run by shouting. 

He halted and bowed slightly. "Anything I can do for you, Lum-san?" he asked.

"Have you seen Shinobu lately?" she asked him.

He glanced over to where she had been laying earlier, but the spot was empty now. "Not lately, now that you mention it."

"I hope she didn't leave," Lum replied, a touch of worry in her voice. "She didn't look like she was having much fun earlier."

"I'll ask around and see," he said, pulling out his oversized satellite phone. Dialing up the front gate detail, he quickly shut it off as loud obnoxious singing poured out of the speaker.

He glared at the phone for a moment, then tried another number. "This is Shutaro," he said as soon as he got a reply. "Everything's fine, but one of the guests has gone missing." There was a brief pause, then he continued. "Her name is Miyake Shinobu." He listened for a second more, then put his phone away. 

"My people are looking for Shinobu-san as we speak," Mendou assured her confidently. 

Lum nodded, then settled back to wait.

After about ten minutes of silence he was reduced to pacing back and forth nervously. "We should have gotten some word by now," he finally said. 

"I'm sure she just went home or something," Lum suggested. 

"Someone would have seen her leave," he explained. "Even if the front gate guards are less than…satisfactory," he continued, "the video surveillance system would have seen her."

A few minutes later the phone finally rang. "Shutaro here," he snapped. He listened for a moment, his eyes widening for just a moment. "I see." He paused again. "No, don't bother them, he's an invited guest as well."

He put his phone away and stared into the night. "They just sighted her in one of the back pastures, apparently with a man in a rabbit suit," he explained.

"Oh, then Inaba was able to make it after all," Lum said, happily clapping her hands.

"It appears so," Shutaro replied distantly. "I'm glad for her." Thinking for a moment, he turned back to Lum. "They must have been using those subspace doorways to get there, and that's why it took so long to locate them." 

He abruptly smiled. "Where has that miserable Moroboshi went to?"

Lum pointed towards a nearby table. "He's over there, seeing how much he can eat."

"Ah," Shutaro responded. "I hope you have both enjoyed today."

"Yes, once Darling stopped being paranoid," she replied ruefully. 

"That's good," he replied. Bowing low, he made his exit. "I apologize, Lum-san, but I need to keep an eye on the rest of the guests as well. Please feel free to let me know if you need anything." He turned away and walked off, noticeably more subdued than earlier.

"_Poor Shutaro_," she thought. "_He's finally noticed Shinobu, and now it's too late to do anything about it_."

* * *

Ataru lay flat on the grass, silently regretting his decision to eat three cakes back to back. Staring up at the nighttime sky, he decided that no matter the pain, it had been worth it. Even if for no other reason than it might have been his only chance in life to do such a thing. Still, even though he felt pretty miserable, he was careful not to show it, dreading the scolding he would get from his gloating wife.

He glanced over to said wife, who was currently curled up on the grass close to him. She was gazing up at the stars, appearing to be lost in thought. 

Sensing his stare, she glanced at him. "Are you ok, Darling?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine," he lied smoothly. "Just enjoying the view."

"You're sweet," she said, scooting closer to him. Possessively reaching her arm across him, she rested her head on his chest. 

Running his hand idly through her hair, Ataru joined her in watching the sky. 

"When do you think they'll start the fireworks?" Lum asked him eventually.

"Any time now," Ataru replied, looking at his watch. Mendou had mentioned they would be starting around this time. 

A few minutes later a loud whistle signaled the first ones shooting into the sky. Predictably enough they burst overhead into the familiar image of a giant octopus face.

"Mendou's such a showoff," Ataru commented grudgingly. 

"Hush, Darling, it is his party," Lum said, not moving her head from his chest.

As the first fireworks faded into dull sparks, another round fired off. This time it was a giant 2, followed closely by a 4.

They heard excited cheering from some of their nearby classmates. This was probably the final gathering of their entire class, after all.

Several more fireworks shot into the sky, this time forming a round object with several spokes in the middle.

"What do you think that one is?" Lum asked him curiously.

"I believe it's supposed to be a UFO," Ataru replied after squinting at it for a moment. A few male voiced cheers confirmed his suspicions.

The next one, a cat's face with a huge lewd grin, drew a smile even from him. "Bastard," he muttered softly.

To everyone's surprise, the next salvo was a long one. A seemingly endless series of stylized red hearts and yellow stars blanketed the sky above them. 

As the final embers burned out, Lum leaned over and gave Ataru a quick peck on his cheek. Ignoring a few catcalls and jeers from the other students, he wrapped his arm around her and drew her close. Closing his eyes, their lips met in a long but tender kiss. 


	13. Keeping Her Cool

A sharp tingle went through his arm. Ataru sleepily opened his eyes, quickly realizing that it was still the middle of the night. He groaned and wondered why he had been waking up more and more often. 

As a second more powerful jolt hit him, his eyes widened. Peeling the blanket that covered them back just a bit, he jerked back instinctively as a bright flash came out from under the cover, accompanied by a third shock. 

"Lum, wake up," he said urgently. She had a firm grip on his left arm and the zaps were starting to hurt.

She half opened her eyes, not really aware of what was going on yet. "What's wrong, Darling?" she murmured.

Another more powerful shock rocked through his arm, causing his leg to involuntarily spasm and kick her hard in the shin.

"Ouch!" she cried out, letting him go. She could barely see anything in the predawn darkness, but glared in his direction anywise. "What the hell was that for," she growled.

Ataru tried to keep his voice level, knowing she wasn't doing it on purpose. "I think we forgot to tie your ribbon on last night," he said. "You just shocked me a few times."

Lum jerked away from him. "Darling!" she cried softly, "I'm really sor-." Feeling around the top of her head, her eyes widened in surprise as she found the ribbon neatly tied in a little bow around each horn.

Ataru lay there for a moment, wondering why she had gone quiet. "Lum?" he called out, but got no response. Instead a soft sound met his ears, which he quickly realized was her crying. He reached out into the darkness, only to hiss and draw back his hand as crackling energy met his fingertips

The sobbing grew louder in response. Now seriously concerned, Ataru got up and stumbled his way to the light switch. Turning it on, he looked around to find Lum curled in a ball at the very edge of the futon. 

"Lum, what's wrong?" he asked, rushing over to her. She tried to shrink away from him, but wasn't fast enough. A nasty jolt hit him once again, this time knocking him back a bit. He looked down in confusion at her.

"Darling, please stay back," she sobbed inconsolably. 

He looked hurt for a moment, then frowned, getting irritated. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded.

"I don't know," she managed to choke out. "Just stay back, I can't control it right now."

"What do you mean?" he asked her more gently this time.

"The ribbon's not working," she said between sobs. "And I can't control the electricity at all."

He noticed for the first time that she did indeed have the ribbon tied securely around her horns. "How can that be?" he asked, getting upset. 

He stared at it for just a second, then had an idea. Tensing his muscles, he reached out tentatively towards the ribbon. He had gotten within about three inches of it when another strong shock hit his arm. 

Lum started edging away from him, looking fearful.

"Stay still," Ataru told her. She did as he asked, though she couldn't help flinching as he neared her again. Ataru made another grab and this time managed to reach her despite the pain. Jerking his arm back hard, the ribbon came with him.

"There," he said, tossing the ribbon aside. "Something's got to be wrong with this thing."

He reached out towards her again, and narrowed his eyes as the hair on his arms stood straight up once his hand got close to her. Continuing to push forward, a visible arc of electricity leapt from her body and struck his hand.

"Ouch," he muttered, pulling back. "It's not the damned ribbon."

"Please don't try any more, Darling," Lum pleaded with him. "I can't control the amount of voltage at all."

Ataru scratched his head, wondering what exactly was going on. "It's almost like you're drunk or something," he muttered, "but you clearly aren't."

"I don't know," she sniffled. "This isn't good, Darling."

"You're telling me," he said biting his lip in frustration. "So this has never happened to you before?" he asked hesitantly.

She shook her head weakly. "Never." She looked up at him with heavily lidded eyes. "Darling, I'm starting to feel really hot."

Thinking back, he remembered that she always retained heat when she used her electrical powers. "I thought you said that was normal," he replied as calmly as he could.

"No, I'm getting way too hot," she gasped out. "Never been this hot."

Ataru hovered over her in a panic, not sure what to do. As he watched helplessly, her eyes slowly closed and she sprawled out limp on the floor. He reached out for her, but again was forced back by the electricity pouring forth. Even at that distance he was beginning to feel the heat coming from her skin.

"Damn it!" he cursed, tears forming in his eyes. Knowing he had to get her cooled down, he racked his brain for ideas. One suddenly popped into his head. He glanced around quickly for anything that could be used as an insulator, but nothing met his glance. He'd have to do without. 

He tore open the door. "Mom, Dad, wake up!" he yelled urgently downstairs. 

Turning back, he steeled himself against the pain he knew was about to endure. Scooping her up in a quick motion, he almost dropped her as every muscle in his body locked up from the electricity running through them both. He gritted his teeth and made his way slowly towards the door, whimpering the whole way. 

His mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "What's wrong, Ataru?" she called up.

"Get the bath water running as cold as you can," he managed to get out as he began carefully maneuvering down the stairs.

She gave him a confused look, but upon seeing Lum unconscious in his arms she hurried to comply.

He painfully made it to the bottom of the stairs, every muscle feeling like it was about to give out. Only raw fear allowed him to make it the final few feet to the bathroom.

The water was still just beginning to cover the bottom of the tub, but he lowered her in anywise, making sure she was sturdily propped up against the edge. The sparks became more evident as soon as she hit the small amount of water, and he had to bite his lip hard not to scream as he let go.

He fell backwards, his legs finally turning to jelly. He lay there panting for a moment as his parents hovered nearby, frantically asking him what was going on. It was a few moments before he was able to talk again.

"Don't touch her!" he gasped out. "Just keep the water going, if it stops it'll start heating up." He whined softly in pain, then continued. "And keep away from the water, her electrical powers are haywire."

After resting for a minute or two, Ataru managed to force himself up on one elbow. "I've got to go," he said, pushing himself up. "Got to get her some help." He used the edge of the doorway to stand up. He let go, but his legs failed to hold, sending him falling forward into his father's arms.

"Ataru, where are you going?" his father demanded. 

"Ran," Ataru managed to weakly say. "Even if she can't do anything, she's got a way to call for help." He paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

"Can't you call her on the phone?" his mother asked.

"Don't have the number," Ataru said, shaking his head in frustration.

"You aren't going to be able to make it," his father objected. "You can't even stand up." He paused, thinking for a second. "If you can give me directions, I'll go and get her."

After giving hasty directions, Ataru looked worried. "Be careful," he told his father. "Make sure she knows who you are, and watch out for mines and stuff."

His father started to look even more worried, but hastily slipped on his shoes and left, promising to be back as soon as he could.

The water was now starting to flow over the top of the tub, and Mrs. Moroboshi had to help Ataru away from the bathroom. He protested leaving Lum alone, but in the end they had no choice, as she was still consistently throwing off sparks.

* * *

Mr. Moroboshi ran through the dark streets as fast as he could, slipping every so often, but quickly recovering each time. He tried to remain calm, but his heart was jumping. Lum was like the daughter he and his wife had always wanted, and they were thrilled to have her in their life. He'd be damned if he'd let her go without a fight.

He neared the park, and slowed down, looking around for the path Ataru had described. A narrow breach in the trees on the side of the road soon appeared, and he changed course. After a minute he made it through to a large clearing, relieved to see a lumpy saucer parked right in the center. He cleared the remaining distance quickly; the thought of mines keeping him on a straight path. 

Vaulting up the tall stairs, he reached the door safely. Not seeing any sort of doorbell, he resorted to just shouting and banging on the hatch. After a couple of minutes he finally heard noise coming from inside and stopped.

A moment later, the door flung open and Mr. Moroboshi found himself staring down the business end of what appeared to be some kind of rocket launcher. The sight was a harsh contrast to the delicate appearing redhead clad in a pink nightgown that wielded it.

"Poor Ran-chan can't sleep for all the noise," she said sweetly. "What the hell do you want?" she then angrily demanded.

"I'm Ataru's father," he managed to stammer out. "Something's wrong with Lum, and we need some help."

She glared at him for a moment, then threw the rocket launcher gently aside. "Explain," she said in as much of a neutral voice as she could manage.

Trying to remain calm, Mr. Moroboshi described the situation as well as he could without knowing all the details himself.

She sighed, then grabbed his arm and pulled him through the hatch. Slamming it shut behind her, she jogged across the room to the communications console and started banging away.

The screen lit up after a moment. Ran clapped her hands, then sweetly asked if the computer wouldn't mind connecting her to Mr. Invader.

After a few minutes the familiar face of the sleepy Oni appeared on the screen. He peered curiously at her for a moment. "Oh, it's you, Ran-chan," he greeted her.

"Ran-chan hates to call you so late, but something's wrong with Lum-chan," she said in her cute voice. 

"What's the matter?" Invader replied, his sleepiness replaced with concern.

"She lost control over her electricity, and it made her body too hot, and now she's passed out," Ran worriedly gushed. 

"Damn it," Invader muttered worriedly. "Ok, it's not that serious if you can manage to keep her temperature down." He thought for a moment, then continued. "We'll be on our way as fast as we can. In the meantime, keep her as cold as you can." He paused. "Don't touch her though, she's probably putting out a really dangerous amount of electricity."

The screen went blank. Ran thought for a moment, then yelled at the computer to connect to Neptune. A black haired girl soon appeared on the screen.

"Get me Oyuki," Ran demanded.

"I'm afraid Lady Oyuki is asleep right now," her servant replied. "If you could call back tomorrow?"

"This is an emergency," Ran yelled at the hapless girl. "Tell her Lum needs her."

A few moments later Oyuki appeared, looking as calm as ever. "Ran-chan, I hear that there is some sort of emergency?"

"Get over to Lum's house quick," Ran said, not bothering to greet her. "She's overheating and needs to be kept cool until help arrives."

"I understand," Oyuki replied. The screen blanked out once again.

Ran stomped back to the door and threw it open, pausing only to put on a pair of shoes. "Well?" she asked angrily. 

Mr. Moroboshi stared at her warily, not sure what she wanted. 

"Get your ass in gear," she shouted, gesturing towards the open door. 

He scrambled out, nearly falling down the stairs in his haste to leave. To his surprise, Ran followed close behind, still in her nightgown. Grabbing his wrist, she impatiently pulled him along back towards his home.

* * *

The closet door suddenly slid open, startling Mrs. Moroboshi. A burst of cold air swept out and chilled the room. 

"What in the world?" she asked, staring at the dark void where the closet interior had been. 

Ataru, beginning to recover, sat up with a frown.

"Oyuki-san?" he guessed.

Sure enough a blast of snow blew out, followed closely by the icy ruler of Neptune herself. She calmly surveyed her surroundings, then looked down at the pair.

"Where is Lum?" she simply asked. 

"Downstairs, in the bathtub." Ataru quickly answered, guessing why she had come. "Watch out for the water though, it'll shock you."

"You need not worry about me," Oyuki stated as she started downstairs. "It will not be able to harm me."

Struggling to walk, Ataru followed her down the stairs, stopping halfway down. By this point a thin layer of water was soaking the floor below. 

As Oyuki stepped off the stairs the water froze solid beneath her feet. She continued on steadily, not seeming to notice. Entering the bathroom, she saw Lum propped up inside, the water around her slightly steaming. With a single breath she chilled it, freezing Lum solidly in place. She then turned the water off to stop the splattering flow that was trying to gush out. 

Ataru peered over the railing, frustrated that he couldn't go downstairs. "How is she?" he finally yelled down. 

"Her temperature is lowering," Oyuki's measured tones floated up to him. "But she is still not conscious."

"Do you know what happened to her?" he called back down. 

Oyuki emerged back into the hallway below. "I am not certain," she said. "Ran merely told me that Lum needed to be cooled off." She glanced back towards the bathroom. "Ran did mention that help would be arriving, so I assume that she called someone else as well."

"Thank, you, Oyuki-san," he said humbly. 

"It is no problem, Ataru," she replied, surprised at his attitude. "Lum is my dear friend, after all."

Glancing down as if just noticing the layer of ice covering the floor, Oyuki snapped her fingers. The ice snapped into thousands of tiny pieces, which she ushered out the door with a stiff winter breeze.

"You should be safe to come down now," she called up to him. "The only ice remaining is in the bathtub."

Ataru carefully made his way down, followed closely by his mother. He rushed into the bathroom and saw to his relief that Lum was solidly encased in ice. Oyuki followed him in, making sure that it wasn't melting too quickly. 

"Would you care for some tea?" Mr. Moroboshi asked the young queen, not sure what else to do.

"That would be very nice, thank you," Oyuki replied, bowing politely. She stood quietly watching as Ataru leaned against the wall. 

"You are hurt," she stated. 

"I'm fine," he replied offhand. "I just got zapped a bit."

"Your arms are both burned," she countered, looking him over. "And your muscles are highly weakened. I am surprised you are standing at all."

"Lum's shocked me a lot in the past," he said. "I'm somewhat used to it."

"You have a very strange constitution for an Earthling," she noted. "You seem to heal more quickly than is usual, and you seem to have much endurance for pain." She paused, studying him for a moment. "Yet you were seriously injured just a few months ago, is that not true?"

"Yeah," he agreed quietly. "But that was a bit more than the usual poundings I get." 

"I suppose even you are not invulnerable," she acquiesced. "Yet it remains that are an interesting individual, Ataru."

He didn't respond, the sound of the front door opening having gotten his attention. 

He looked out and was relieved to see Ran had arrived, his out of breath father in tow.

"Ran-chan," he greeted her wearily. "Thanks for the help."

"Oh, Darling!" Ran said with her hand cupped over her mouth. She rushed over to him "You're hurt!"

Oyuki calmly gazed at the new arrival. "Ran, thank you for coming," she greeted her. 

Ran gave her a grumpy look, then replied. "Ran-chan was the one who called you in the first place, Oyuki-chan."

His father stared after the now sweet girl, wondering what triggered her constant personality changes. Shrugging, he went to check on his wife in the other room.

* * *

Afew hours later Invader arrived at the door, followed closely by his wife. Lum appeared to be sleeping peacefully by that time, and the three teens quickly moved out of the bathroom to allow the two Oni access to her. 

Ataru hovered in the doorway, his concern evident. "Do you know what's wrong with her?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Invader replied, setting down a bag he had brought in. "She just has a chemical imbalance. It's not usually this bad, but it happens." He carefully pulled out a syringe and bottle and handed it to his wife. "Has she been using her lightning much, Son?" he asked.

"No, not really," Ataru replied, thinking back. He could only remember a few times in the last few months, actually.

"That's why," Invader explained as he carefully pried chunks of ice away from Lum's arm. "When we suddenly go from using lots of power every day to hardly any, it's a big shock on the system." 

He managed to free her arm, then continued. "The body also produces more charge than it releases, and that charge can build up, even though the body decreases how much it automatically creates." He held Lum's arm up while her mother carefully gave her an injection. "That should stabilize her, but we need to keep her cool a few more hours."

"I see," Ataru replied, relieved that it wasn't more serious.

"What's unusual is that Lum didn't gradually release the excess energy while she slept," her father remarked, laying her arm gently back down in the ice. 

Ataru paled at those last words. "We have been sealing her powers at night," he admitted.

Invader turned halfway around, looking furious. "Why would you do that?" he demanded.

"So she wouldn't shock me in her sleep," Ataru cautiously replied, shrinking away from the Oni's glare.

Invader looked confused for a moment, then abruptly chuckled. "I forgot, you Earthling's don't absorb electricity the same way we do." He then frowned again. "Once her body gets used to producing less energy, that won't be a problem. Lum won't have enough excess for it to noticeably leak out when she's sleeping." 

"So in the meantime I just have to bear it?" Ataru asked.

"I'd recommend sleeping separately again until she's calmed down more," Invader replied, putting his hand on Ataru's shoulder. "If you seal her powers up before her levels decrease, she'll start overcharging again. And if Lum releases it through purposely zapping something, her body will start creating more. You just have to wait for her body to balance itself out." 

"How long would that take?" Ataru asked, staring at the floor.

Invader glanced at his wife, who told him something in their language. "She may be close to balancing out now, but with all that excess charge there's no way to tell yet." 

Invader sighed, worn out by their frantic trip. "You look like hell, Son, why don't you go get some sleep?"

"If it's ok, I'd rather stay with Lum," Ataru replied stubbornly. "I'm ok."

"You're a good man," Invader told him, patting his shoulder again. "She'll be fine, but I won't try to force you." He stepped past Ataru and went to join everyone else in the main room. 

Lum's mother settled down in the floor next to the tub. Giving Ataru a reassuring smile, she pointed the floor nearby. 

He sat down carefully, using the wall to support him. As soon as he was seated, she scooted over, bag in hand. Ataru looked at her in confusion as she carefully took his hands and looked them over.

A few minutes later, his lower arms and hands now thoroughly treated and bandaged, Ataru nodded off. Mrs. Invader hummed an old lullaby as she put away her salve and extra bandages, very glad of her long ago training to be a nurse. She glanced over at her sleeping daughter, and delicately felt her forehead. To her relief Lum's temperature was already almost back to normal.

* * *

It was cold. It was very cold. Lum felt like she was struggling to swim in a frigid sea. Every time it seemed like she was about to break free, another wave of darkness pushed her back down. At last she managed to claw her way out into the light.

Lum's eyes shot wide open. Sitting up with a shiver, she quickly realized she was sitting in a bath of ice water, but couldn't imagine why. A hand settled on her shoulder, and she looked around, surprised to see the face of her mother.

"_How do you feel, Lum?_" her mother asked.

"_What's going on_?" Lum fearfully asked in their native tongue.

"_Calm down, love_," her mother told her. She gave her a tight hug. "_You're ok now_."

Looking over her mother's shoulder, Lum spotted Ataru sleeping nearby, passed out against the wall. Her brow furrowed as she realized his arms were heavily bandaged.

"Darling!" she shrieked, lunging out of the water. 

His eyes snapped open at the sound of her voice. "Lum!" he said, happy that she was finally awake. 

Lum wrapped her arms around his neck. "What happened to your arms, Darling?"

His eyes widened briefly, but to his relief she hadn't shocked him. "Don't worry about it, Lum," he said, gingerly hugging her. "I'm just glad you're ok." 

"What happened?" she demanded again.

"_Lum, do you remember losing control of your electrical powers last night?_" her mother asked. 

Lum thought for a moment, starting to remember the night before bit by bit. Darling had woken her up because she was shocking him, but then she'd felt so hot. She didn't know what had happened after that. "Somewhat," she finally replied.

"_Ataru probably saved your life by getting you cooled down_," her mother informed her. "_I gave you a shot to calm your body down, but you still need to take it easy_."

"What happened to Darling's arms?" she demanded for the third time, starting to sound frantic. 

"_Calm down, Lum_," her mother told her. "_He has some electrical burns, but it's not that serious. I already treated him, so he shouldn't be in any pain."_

"Darling!" she wailed hugging him tighter. "I did this?"

"It's ok," Ataru reassured her over and over again. "I'm just fine." As Lum continued crying on his shoulder, he looked helplessly at his mother-in-law, not sure what to say.

"_Lum, it's not your fault_," her mother told her. "_Please try to calm down, you're starting to upset Ataru_, _and he's had a hard night already_."

Lum finally released her tight hold on him. "I'm so sorry Darling," she sniffled. "I wouldn't hurt you for the world, you know that, don't you?" 

"I know, Lum," he responded. "I'm just really glad you're ok."

Lum turned to her mother. "_Am I back to normal again, or is this going to keep happening_?" she fearfully asked.

"_More or less_," her mother replied. "_Your body has to learn to stop creating such a high charge, and you can't keep sealing away your nocturnal shocks. They're like a safety valve that keeps you from ending up like last night_."

"_That means I can't sleep next to Darling_," she wailed pitifully.

"_Eventually you will be able to_," her mother reassured her. "_The less you use your lightening, the faster your body will adapt to needing to store less of a charge_." She paused for a second. "_Since you haven't been using it much already, it may not take all that long for you to reach that point_." 

"_So it's not forever?"_ Lum confirmed, trying to dry her eyes.

"_No_,_ love_" her mother replied, giving Lum another hug. "_It's just until your body stops creating so much excess energy_."

Lum, calming down at last, returned to Ataru's arms. "Darling, please don't be angry," she told him. "We can't sleep together for a while, but Mom says it should get better."

"I know," Ataru reassured her, "your father explained it to me earlier." He shyly kissed her on the cheek. "All that's important right now is that you're ok." 


	14. A Helping Hand

Lum groaned, feeling completely miserable. Waking up in ice water was certainly not the best way to start the morning, and finding out that you had given your husband a series of first and second degree burns on his hands and arms certainly hadn't helped.

She shakily emerged from the bathroom that morning to find not only her father, but also the Moroboshis, Ran, and even Oyuki sprawled out in various positions across the living room. Even propped up against the television stand, Oyuki had somehow managed to achieve an elegant looking pose. The ice water bath suddenly made sense, but Lum wasn't sure why Ran had come as well.

Her mother helped Lum change into some dry clothes upstairs, then got busy rummaging up some breakfast. In the meantime the crowd downstairs had started waking up and it sounded like things were quickly going back to normal. Ran-chan's voice rang out harshly a few times, then was silenced suddenly.

Ataru glanced towards the floor nervously. "Oyuki?" he asked.

"Probably," Lum agreed. She shivered slightly as a cold chill permeated the room. "Definitely."

"Think we should go down there?" he asked tentatively.

"Nah, Mom will keep them from getting too rowdy," Lum replied while scooting closer to Ataru. She looked down guiltily at his bandaged hands. "Do they hurt?" she asked hesitantly.

"Whatever your mother put on them made them kind of numb," he replied. "They're fine."

"I wish you hadn't tried carrying me like that," she said with regret.

"I didn't have a choice," he told her," you were burning up."

"Oyuki could have cooled me down no matter where I was," she insisted.

Ataru glared at her. "You don't get it, do you?" He looked away. "By the time Oyuki got here, it could have been too late."

He swallowed as he remembered the scene before the tub had overflowed enough that they had to go upstairs. "You were hot enough that the bath water was steaming," he said weakly. "And you wouldn't wake up."

Lum wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry, Darling," she said. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"Idiot," he muttered. "That doesn't matter."

Ataru was startled to feel a gentle nip at his ear.

"It matters to me," she lightly scolded him. She nestled her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Darling, you are my world," she murmured quietly.

"Don't say such things," he gruffly replied, getting embarrassed.

"It's true," she said softly. "I can't even imagine being without you."

"Then stop being selfish," he replied, brushing her hair away from her face. "I'm not about to risk losing you either."

"It's going to be lonely tonight," Lum pointed out after a few minutes.

Ataru raised his head. "I suppose so," he agreed. "We've got enough room to put out both futons though, so it's not like you'll be in the closet."

"That's true," she said. "Still not close enough though."

* * *

The sound of someone running up the stairs alerted the two that their peaceful cuddling session was about to be interrupted. Lum growled in annoyance, but resolved not to be budged from her Darling's side.

The door flew open, revealing a lightly frosted and furious Ran. She glared at the couple for a moment, then slammed the door behind her. Settling daintily down on the floor nearby, she continued to glare at them.

"Ran-chan!" Ataru happily greeted her after a moment of awkward silence.

Ran gave Ataru a curious look; she was used to him eagerly rushing at her in greeting. He seemed satisfied to stay by Lum's side, oddly enough.

"Ran-chan, are you alright?" Lum asked delicately.

"How could I be all right with that ice queen lurking downstairs?" Ran hissed. "She already tried to freeze poor Ran-chan once," she explained, switching to her cute voice.

"What did you do to make her mad?" Lum asked, not buying the innocent act.

"What do you mean, what did I do?" Ran demanded, showing her fangs once again. "Why do you assume I did something?"

"Because Oyuki-chan doesn't get mad unless you push her," Lum stated with confidence.

"Darling, everyone's ganging up on Ran-chan, and after I went to all that trouble just to help Lum-chan," she helplessly protested to Ataru.

He simply looked away. "I'm not getting involved in that," he said casually. "But thanks again, Ran-chan. I really appreciate your help last night."

Lum nodded. "Thank you Ran-chan, you're a really good friend to me."

Ran looked somewhat pacified. "Of course Ran-chan will help out her dearest friend and Darling whenever she can."

"That's good to hear," Ataru told her. "By the way, how's Rei doing?"

Ran blushed and smiled. "Rei-san's doing really good, he has a really healthy appetite for Ran-chan's cooking." She snuck a glare at Lum, then continued on in her sweet voice. "Rei-san is so cute!"

Ataru smiled, relieved she was still keeping the big oaf occupied. "I'm happy for you, Ran-chan," he said with a grin. "You two make a good couple."0

"Don't we," Ran agreed, blushing a deep red. "Someday maybe Ran-chan and Rei-san will get married." She giggled. "Rei-san's so brave and handsome."

She suddenly stood up. "Ran-chan has a date tonight, so she needs to go home and start cooking!" She giggled again. "See you later, Darling, Lum-chan."

After Ran had skipped merrily out of the room, Lum looked at Ataru in amazement. "How did you do that?" she asked. "I can barely have a conversation with her that doesn't end in her storming off."

He shrugged. "She doesn't see me as competition for Rei, I guess." He looked away with an innocent look. "Plus I never wet her bed and blamed it on her either."

"Darling!" Lum said with a deep blush. "I was only a little girl when that happened."

"I dunno," he said looking up as if in deep thought. "The futon was awful damp one morning."

"Darling?" she asked, panicking.

Ataru snickered. "You're easy to mess with."

She narrowed her eyes and bit his shoulder. "That wasn't funny!" she growled.

"Owww," he protested, trying to inspect under his collar for teeth marks. "That was a bit harsh."

"You deserved it," she said, turning away in a huff. "Honestly, Darling, you are so mean to me sometimes."

He continued looking at his shoulder ruefully. "So says the one who just bit an injured guy over a dumb joke," he complained.

She didn't turn around. "Sorry," she grumpily apologized after a few minutes.

Ataru turned away as well. "I don't think I could accept an insincere apology like that," he retorted, putting on an insulted air.

Lum sighed. "I'm really sorry," she said more gently, turning back around and putting her hands on his shoulders. "How can I make it up to you, Darling?"

"I don't know," he said, looking away still. "That was a pretty rotten thing to do."

She leaned in close. "Darling," she whispered directly into his ear.

He shivered as her voice sent tingles up his spine. Suddenly he felt her carefully pull his collar aside and her lips touch gently to his shoulder where she had bit him. She moved up his neck, giving him a series of kisses, then nipped playfully at his ear lobe.

"Better now?" she teased him.

He dumbly nodded.

"Good," she said, pressing herself against him. She ran her fingers lazily across his chest. "You're easy to mess with too."

He looked at her with a grin. "I just know how to play my cards right," he replied with a chuckle.

"Darling, you are terrible," responded softly, not pausing in her gentle caresses. "But I love you." Lum clasped her hands around his shoulders and pulled him gently back until his head was resting firmly against her breasts.

Ataru turned his head to the side, feeling her comforting warmth pressed against his cheek. "It's going to be embarrassing if someone sees us like this," he commented, not budging.

"Oh let them be see," she responded, holding him tight. "If we have to sleep apart, I'm going to have to just snuggle my Darling while we're still awake."

"I've got no problems with that at all," he replied, content in her arms.

* * *

A sharp rap on the door interrupted them for a second time. Sighing, Ataru straightened up and told them to come in.

This time their visitor was Oyuki. "Your mother sent me to tell you that breakfast is ready," she said.

"Thanks, Oyuki-chan," Ataru said. "Are you hungry?" he inquired, turning to Lum.

"Starving," she said, hopping to her feet. "Come on, Darling, let's go eat."

The followed Oyuki back downstairs and found everyone was already gathered around the table. With seven people it was a bit crowded, but they all managed to find a comfortable spot. With Invader involved the meal was a bit more hectic than usual, but his wife managed to keep him relatively under control.

Lum managed to occupy herself by feeding Ataru, as his hands were still wrapped up. He grumbled about it a bit, but didn't have much choice, as holding his chopstick was an impossible task.

As soon as he finished eating, a decidedly sleepy looking Mr. Moroboshi rushed off, hoping he wouldn't be late. A few minutes later Invader regretfully informed them that he needed to get back to Oniboshi as well. After giving both Lum and Ataru a final checking over and a hug goodbye, Lum's mother went on ahead.

"Call us if anything happens," her father said one last time as he headed out the door. "We'll be here as fast as we can."

"I know, Dad," Lum said, starting to get annoyed with his fretting. "Don't worry so much."

Invader chuckled, then waved goodbye as he ascended into the sky, presumably towards their waiting shuttle.

Lum sighed in relief as they disappeared from view. "I hate when they treat me like a child," she confided in Ataru.

"They're just worried about you," he said, putting his arm carefully around her. "Last night was pretty rough."

"I know, Darling," she replied. "But I'm fine now."

Oyuki startled the two by suddenly speaking up from directly behind them. "You are both lucky to have parents who care for you," she said quietly. "It has been quite some time since I have had anyone to worry over me like that."

Lum looked at her childhood friend, surprised to hear her speak of anything personal. "What do you mean?" she asked, but Oyuki had already turned away, dismissing the conversation.

"I regret that I must also be getting back," Oyuki said. "Lum, if you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call." She paused. "Please give Ran my apologies if you see her soon. I possibly overreacted to her observation that I snore."

She elegantly waved as she left them, heading back upstairs. The sound of the closet door sliding open then firmly shut signaled her departure.

"I guess that's everybody," Ataru said, sounding slightly relieved.

"I suppose so," Lum replied, lost in thought. "You know, Oyuki has never mentioned her parents before. Even in elementary school I never heard anything about them."

"Who raised her then?" Ataru asked, getting curious.

"I suppose her ladies in waiting," Lum answered. "But Oyuki never talks about such matters."

"I see," Ataru replied. "Well, she is the Queen of Neptune, doesn't that mean that her parents would have to have died at some point?"

"I suppose so," she answered. "I'd never really thought about it before because she's been the queen for as long as I've known her."

"Is that right?" Ataru said quietly. "That must have been lonely."

"Yeah," Lum agreed. "But she never lets on about it. She's always been very reserved."

"I can imagine," Ataru responded. "I guess she has to be."

* * *

A few hours later Ataru found himself alone in the house. His mother had left to do some shopping a little while before, and Lum was up tinkering with something in the UFO. She'd asked him if he wanted to come with her, but he had declined, wanting to just relax for a little while.

Now he was starting to regret that decision. The itching of his hands was starting to drive him mad, and he couldn't even scratch them. Mrs. Invader had left strict instructions not to take off the bandages until the next morning, and he wasn't going to risk it. He tried watching television for a while, but quickly got bored and returned to his room.

After giving up trying to read a magazine after a few minutes, he finally settled for just listening to some music. After clumsily getting a record on the player, he sat down and closed his eyes, trying to relax.

It wasn't working. He opened his eyes a bit and stared irritably at the wall. Even Jariten would have been a welcome distraction at this point, but he was still off visiting his parents on Uru. Upon finding himself thinking it wouldn't even be so bad if Cherry stopped by, Ataru realized he needed to find something to do.

Giving up hanging around home as a bust, he slipped on his shoes and went for a walk. He found himself soon headed for the park, though not for any particular reason. Reaching the central fountain, he settled down on the edge and looked at the clock overhead. It read only a quarter after three.

Ataru sighed and stared at the ground. Lum had said she would probably be back around five, meaning he still had almost two hours to waste. He wondered exactly when he had started depending on her so much for company.

A flurry of light footsteps clipping down a nearby pathway grabbed his attention. A little ways off he saw a redhead carrying a covered basket scurry by. He watched quietly as she disappeared into a tree, undoubtedly on her way to meet Rei for their date.

That reminded him, it had been a while since he had met Lum here for their regular dates. Lately they had just been setting out from home together. He grinned as he glanced at the clock again, remembering how many times they had gotten into arguments from his showing up late.

As time wore on, Ataru stayed in that spot, mutely observing the goings on around him. At one point he recognized Inaba's unmistakable form in the distance, no doubt looking for Shinobu. He didn't tend to hang around town if she wasn't nearby.

Seeing Inaba reminded Ataru of Mendou's party, now almost a month in the past. He hadn't seen much of Mendou since then, though rumors said that he was busy getting better acquainted with Asuka. Ataru chuckled as he realized that meant his presence would not be welcome for a while, the girl being utterly terrified of him.

This thought alerted him to the fact that even though he had a prime opportunity to chase girls, he was completely ignoring it. He briefly considered giving it a go for old times sake, but decided against it. He really wasn't in the mood for such pursuits these days, and it wouldn't be worth it if Lum found out.

Resigning himself to boredom, Ataru idly tried singing a song he'd heard a few days ago. Unsurprisingly he was unable to remember most of the words and quickly resorted to just humming it instead.

Another long chunk of time passed without anything remotely interesting occurring. He glanced impatiently up at the clock again, and then did a double take. A pair of slender legs crossed at the ankles was blocking the face of the clock. He followed them up and saw Lum sitting on top, silently watching him. Seeing that she had been spotted, she gave a little wave.

"Hey, Lum!" he called out. "What are you doing up there?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied as she hopped down. Alighting gracefully before him, she took a seat by his side. "I came looking for you, Darling."

"How long have you been up there?" he hesitantly asked.

"Just a little while," she responded. "I got done a little faster than I thought." She nestled up closer to his side. "I went home and you weren't there. I was worried."

"I can take care of myself," he said, pretending to be irritated. "Anyway, I just came out for some air."

Lum smiled and carefully took his arm. "Get bored?" she casually asked him.

"A bit," Ataru admitted. "There wasn't much on TV."

"Pretty quiet out here too," Lum observed. "Seems odd after how hectic this morning was."

"That's true," he agreed. "I did see Ran-chan and Inaba pass by earlier."

"Ah," Lum said in response. "I guess everyone's just busy with their own lives," she noted.

"I suppose so," he replied. "Ran-chan looked really happy."

"She must have been going to see Rei," Lum guessed. "I'm glad she's happy."

Ataru nodded in agreement. The last thing they wanted was Ran focusing on their relationship instead of her own.

"Mother is back home," Lum informed him. "She said dinner would be a bit scarce tonight due to the big breakfast this morning."

"Maybe we should go grab a bite," Ataru replied. "I could go for some ramen."

Lum nodded. "That sounds good," she said.

Ataru stood up and offered her his arm, which she quickly accepted. They walked together out of the park, and were halfway to their favorite ramen joint when Lum suddenly stopped.

"Darling, do you think you'll be able to hold your chopsticks?" she asked him.

He grimaced, having forgotten about the bandages on his hands. "Not a chance," he admitted. "How about Takoyaki?" he suggested. "You could help me easier with that."

"Sure!" Lum said, delighted that he was so readily accepting her help. "You want to go to Neko Restaurant?"

"Yeah, they're the best," he agreed, already drooling over the thought of the fried octopus balls.

They altered their course a bit and soon arrived at the restaurant. Ataru ordered enough for both of them while Lum secured their booth.

Returning with their order, Ataru settled down next to her.

"This is a real pain," he whined, looking at the bandages. "I can't wait until I can take these off."

"It's just until tomorrow," Lum replied, picking up a piece by its tooth stick. She held it out to Ataru expectantly.

He blushed glanced around nervously, obviously embarrassed. In the end hunger won out, and he quickly snatched the Takoyaki from her.

She ate a bite herself. "Darling, you worry about what people think too much," she scolded him as she held up another one.

"It's embarrassing," he protested, but ate another piece.

"If our roles were reversed, wouldn't you help me?" she asked him between bites.

"Of course," he replied. "But you're a girl."

"Well I'm also your wife," Lum responded tenderly. "What's so embarrassing about a wife helping her injured husband eat?"

Ataru thought about it for a moment. "I suppose nothing," he said, taking another bite from her. "But I never said it was entirely rational."

Lum sighed and ate another piece herself. "Darling, you are silly."

He only grumbled in reply, but didn't stop eating.

* * *

When they got home, Ataru found an odd looking little console set up beside his record player.

"What's this?" he asked Lum.

She grinned. "This is what I was working on earlier. It can relay calls from our UFO." She started playing with the controls. "This way if we have another emergency we can get help faster." She looked guilty as she continued. "Also this way I won't miss so many calls."

A small screen popped up from the top of the console. She hit a few buttons and the words 'No new messages' scrolled across the screen.

"So you can call your parents with this?" Ataru asked, amazed at the small size of the device.

"Yep," Lum said proudly. "We can call anyone on the galactic network with this."

She made another selection, this time bringing up a list of names. "See, I've already got everyone's number programmed in."

"I see," he said appreciatively. "You've been busy."

"I really should have built one a long time ago," Lum said, fiddling with it a bit more. She paused for a moment, but hesitantly continued. "I was kind of worried you would be bugging my friends all the time."

"I don't bug people," Ataru responded irritably.

"I trust that you won't now," Lum responded, trying to reassure him. "But can you imagine a few months ago if you'd had a direct line to Oyuki-chan or Benton-chan?"

Ataru thought about it a moment, then decided to change the subject. "Anyways, how do you make a call?"

She quickly stepped him through all of the basic functions, slightly surprised at how fast he seemed to pick it up.

"Why don't you try going through the steps to call someone?" she suggested after a few minutes. "I haven't fully tested it yet."

He puzzled his way through the commands, Lum making the actual selections due to his bandaged hands. "Who do you want me to try?" he asked her after a moment.

"Ran-chan's probably still out," she said, trying to think. "Plus she's awfully close. Let's try my mother."

Ataru raised an eyebrow, knowing he wouldn't understand a word the Oni woman said. He relayed the remaining steps back to Lum, and the screen went blank.

"Did I do it wrong?" he asked nervously, peering over her shoulder.

"No," Lum said confidently. "It just takes a minute to make the connection.

The screen suddenly cleared up as a gentle tone sounded from it. After a minute Lum's mother appeared. She looked surprised to see them in Ataru's room.

"Hi, Mom," Lum greeted her. "I got a relay set up, and we were just testing it out."

"_Hello_," Lum's mother responded cheerfully. "_I'm glad you finally set one up, I didn't like not being able to easily reach you_." She glanced at Ataru. "_How are his hands doing_?" she asked.

"Mom wants to know how your hands are feeling," Lum translated.

"Itchy," he replied. "They don't actually hurt though."

Mrs. Invader smiled. "Tell him to try not to scratch. It's a good sign that they itch, that means they are healing."

Lum translated her instructions back to her husband.

Ataru grinned. "Don't worry, I'm not scratching."

"_Now, how are you feeling, dear_?" Lum's mother asked her next.

"I've felt normal all day," Lum replied.

"_That's great_," her mother responded. "_Now don't forget what I told you this morning_."

"I won't," Lum said patiently.

"_Alright then_," her mother said. "_I need to get back to making dinner, call me if anything comes up_."

"Ok, Mom, I'll talk to you later," Lum said.

The screen went back to the original menu. "That wasn't so hard," Ataru commented.

"You seem to have a knack for it," Lum pointed out.

He blushed slightly. "It wasn't that hard." Looking at the device again, he glanced up at her. "Did you build this yourself?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lum admitted, "but I had to look up some parts."

"That's pretty amazing," he commented.

"It's not all that complicated," Lum said shyly. "It just seems that way here." She paused for a moment, getting an idea. "Have you thought about studying computers?"

"Not really," Ataru replied warily. "The most complicated things I've even played with are the games at the arcade." He thought for a moment. "We can't afford to buy one or anything, all I've ever been able to get is my game watch."

He suddenly furrowed his brow. "That thing hasn't worked right since you borrowed it," he reminded her.

"This relay unit is probably more advanced than most of earth's current ones," Lum continued, glossing over his complaint. "Give me a few days and I'll try to set something up that you can play with."

Ataru looked dubious. "That stuff sounds kind of boring," he replied.

"Just try it out, you might enjoy it," she told him patiently. "I'll put some games on it too," she promised. "Better ones than your game watch had."

His eyes lit up. "That'd be neat," he admitted. "Would they be like those games on that Famicom system they keep advertising?"

She vaguely remembered seeing some commercials for it. "Probably just as good," she replied. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Lum," he said sincerely.

"You'll have to learn how to make it work before you can play anything," she warned him. "I'll go ahead and order the components tonight."

"How do you get the cash for this stuff?" he asked her curiously. It hadn't really occurred to him before that she was constantly fiddling with new alien gadgets, but still relied on the meager allowance his parents gave each of them for eating and buying clothes.

"Dad set up an account for me with the Space Telephone Shopping Network," she replied. "Every month he puts some into it so that I can buy stuff for myself."

"Ah," Ataru replied, remembering the time she had gotten a robot delivered from them.

"I've already replaced a lot of the tools I lost in my old UFO," she proudly informed him.

* * *

Lum quickly researched and ordered the necessary components after dinner. With a sigh she finished up and went to lay out both their futons on the floor, making sure she was leaving enough space between them that she wouldn't shock her husband in her sleep.

Ataru looked at the two futons sadly. Even if it was temporary, it was going to be hard getting used to sleeping apart after this long. He sighed and climbed in, trying to be careful of his hands.

Waiting until Ataru was settled in, Lum turned off the lights and crawled into her long unused futon. She scooted over to the side closest to him and closed her eyes, hoping she could get to sleep fast.

A few minutes later she opened her eyes and glanced over at Ataru. In the moonlight she could tell he wasn't sleeping either. He appeared to be staring moodily at the ceiling, in fact.

"Darling, are you ok?" she asked hesitantly.

He glanced over at her, his expression softening. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Just kind of weird feeling to be sleeping alone."

"I know what you mean," she agreed. "At least we can still sleep in the same room."

"That's true," he replied with a yawn. "But it's not the same."

"Just try to get to sleep, Darling," Lum told him. "I'll make it up to you in the morning."

He smiled and closed his eyes. "I can't wait," he sleepily replied. "Good night, Lum."

"Good night, Darling," she softly replied, closing her own eyes. Even if she missed his warmth, his nearby presence and the sound of his steady breathing was enough to eventually lull her to sleep.

A few minutes after he heard Lum fall asleep, Ataru's eyes popped back open. Glad his pretense had worked, he smiled as he watched her sleeping face for a few minutes. The next thing he knew he was starting to drift off as well. His last sleepy thoughts before he dozed off were that he hoped morning would come soon.


	15. Some Assembly Required

Ataru awoke feeling groggy. He opened his eyes and wondered briefly why Lum wasn't sleeping in his arms. The sight of her nearby empty futon reminded him of their newly forced separation at night, but didn't explain where Lum had gone.

"Good morning, Darling," a sensual voice whispered into his ear. He rolled over, surprised to see Lum lying on the blanket next to him.

"What are you doing over here?" he asked, not understanding why she hadn't shocked him during the night.

"I woke up before you did," she explained, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "I was lonely over there, so I figured I would come over and keep you company until you woke up."

"Gotcha," he replied. He stretched, noticing with relief that his hands weren't itching this morning at least.

"Mom said we can take those off now," Lum pointed out while looking at the bandages in disdain.

Ataru sat up and held his arms out straight so she could start unwrapping them. After working up her nerve, she started on his right arm, being as gentle as she could. She tried to prepare herself for the ghastly sight that she was afraid awaited her under the bandages.

To both of their surprise his skin was slightly red in a few places, but overall looked fine, all the way to the fingertips.

"Where'd all the blisters go?" he asked, looking confused. He wondered for a moment if he had merely dreamed his arms were badly burned.

Lum sniffed, faintly detecting a pungent odor coming from his bared arm. "Mom used a special medicine on your arms, but I didn't think it would do this well." She carefully unwrapped his other arm and was relieved to see it looked no worse.

"How do they feel?" Lum asked him.

He flexed his fingers one a time, then felt each hand carefully. "A little bit tender, but not bad."

"That's great, Darling!" she gushed as she threw her arms around him, a load of guilt and worry suddenly off her shoulders. The entire day before she had been afraid he would suffer lasting effects from the burns.

He hugged her back, appreciating that he could actually touch her with his bare hands again.

* * *

After resuming their usual morning jogging routine, Ataru took a rare early afternoon shower, wanting to rid himself of both the previous day's grime and the lingering smell of whatever medicine Lum's mother had used. He quickly changed into fresh clothes and went up to his room.

Lum, hard at work on something by the window, glanced up at him with a smile before turning back to her project. He looked curiously over her shoulder at the small pile of components she was working on assembling.

"They already delivered that stuff?" Ataru asked, amazed at the speed.

"Yeah," Lum muttered around the small screwdriver she was holding in her teeth. "They're usually pretty fast." She finally got the pieces in her hands in place, then carefully secured them.

"This isn't all of it," she said, nodding towards a fairly large box sitting out on the balcony. "Just the first step."

Ataru walked over curiously and peeked into the box.

"Make sure you don't lose anything," Lum called out to him while still concentrating on her work. "But if you could go ahead and unpack the rest, I'd appreciate it."

Ataru carefully pulled a series of smaller boxes out of the larger one, noticing that they were each numbered. He stacked them against the wall inside, trying to group them in order.

Lum glanced back at his results. "That's fine," she told him. "Thanks, Darling."

He settled down next to her on the floor. "No problem," he responded. He watched her work for a while longer. "It seems like most of the stuff you get requires a lot of assembly," he noted.

"It's cheaper that way," Lum noted. "Plus it's easier to get exactly what you want."

After a few moments, she checked her instructions, then picked out a needle-ended tool from the small box she had next to her. Pulling a pair of shaded goggles down over her eyes, she looked down at the tool, then frowned. "Darling, maybe I should go work up in the ship?" she suggested. "I don't have a spare pair of goggles, and it would hurt your eyes if you were around for this next part."

He waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "All the stuff's already here, I'll just go out for a while."

"Are you sure?" she asked, hating to kick him out of his own room.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's a nice day out anyway."

"It'll probably just take a couple of hours or so," she called after him. "I'll try to hurry."

As Ataru left the house, he noticed a bright flash coming from the upstairs window. Shrugging, he put his hands in his pockets and went for a stroll down the street.

He soon found himself strolling past Cherry's campsite. Kotatsuneko was there, and waved to him as usual.

Ataru waved back while looking around carefully for the annoying monk. Luckily Cherry was nowhere in sight. Likely the little mooch was hanging out at Sakura's place to get out of the sun.

After a moment he continued on towards the shopping district. Stopping by his favorite ramen stand for a bite to eat, he quickly slurped down a bowl. He finished up and paid for his meal, sadly noticing that he was running low on funds again.

* * *

Bored and almost broke, Ataru headed slowly back towards home. Often he had wished his life would be calmer, but this was a bit too calm for his tastes. Tomobiki hadn't been this quiet in years, and it was starting to get really boring. Not that he wished anything bad would happen; scares like the night before last were the last thing he wanted. But Mendou's troops on a mission, Shinobu trashing a telephone pole, something like that would be a welcome diversion. He hadn't even heard from Ryuunosuke for a while, though he figured she was helping out her father somewhere out of town.

On a whim, he switched course towards the park. Reaching the path to Ran's ship, he made his way through the trees to her clearing, keeping an eye out for patches of dirt that looked like they might have recently been disturbed. He noticed quite a few, but none on the direct path to her door. Knowing Ran didn't watch where she was going when she was in a bad mood, Ataru figured this was intentional.

He made his way carefully down the clear path and up to her stairs. Ringing the bell, he waited a few moments. A small Ran doll soon emerged from a hidden panel and bowed formally to him.

"Ran-chan is sorry, but she doesn't want any visitors right now," the doll told him cheerfully.

He bent down to the doll. "Aw, you're cute," he replied with a grin. "Is Ran-chan feeling ok?"

The doll closed its eyes and smiled. "Ran-chan is ok," the doll confirmed happily.

Ataru scratched his head. "Well, if she doesn't want visitors, there's no helping it." He waved goodbye to the little doll and started back down the stairs.

About halfway down he reconsidered, staring wide-eyed at the smoking crater that had just formed on the ground below.

He turned around slowly to find Ran glaring down at him, her rocket launcher still trailing a wisp of smoke.

"Darling, how nice of you to visit!" Ran said, putting her weapon aside. "Please come in."

Ataru nervously complied, cautiously entering her ship. The door slammed ominously shut behind him and he gulped, sure this hadn't been a good idea.

Ran seated him at a little round table and scurried off, promising she would have tea ready in a moment. He glanced around nervously, hoping she wasn't going to poison him.

She soon returned and poured him a cup. He noted she poured her own from the same pot, but considering she was an alien he wasn't very reassured. Still she had never poisoned him before. He took a wary sip and found it to be good.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Now, Darling, is there a reason you came to see little Ran-chan today?"

"Not really," he honestly replied. "I just came by to say hello."

Ran raised an eyebrow, wondering if Lum was using him to mess with her somehow. She took a sip of her tea and tried to brainstorm what her old friend was planning. Obviously Darling wasn't in on it, she didn't think he had the intelligence to play a knowing role in such matters.

"Actually," Ataru continued, "I also wanted to thank you again for your help the other night. I know Lum really appreciated it as well."

"Then why isn't Lum-chan here?" Ran asked, struggling to keep her cute demeanor up.

"Oh, she's busy building something," he answered merrily, still sipping his tea. "I didn't mention I was stopping by."

Ran slightly narrowed her eyes. This could be a good chance to mess with Lum a bit. "Is that right?" she asked in a neutral voice.

Ataru didn't outwardly appear to notice her sudden shift in mood. "Yeah, I wondered if you might get lonely living all alone," he hesitantly answered. "So I thought you might like some company for a little while."

She smiled. Ataru wasn't jumping all over her like he used to, but surely he was still trying to win her over with this innocent routine. She decided to play along and see how long she far she could string this out. Surely Lum would be devastated when she saw how easily her Darling strayed.

"You are so kind to Ran-chan," she responded, pouring on the sweet act as she shyly scooted her chair around the table towards Ataru. She placed a hand on top of his own to reassure him, then leaned towards him expectantly. His wary expression turned to one of panic as he shook his hand loose and jumped out of his seat.

"Well, I've got to be going," he said quickly, heading for the door. "Thanks for the tea, it's been great seeing you."

She merely flipped a switch on a nearby console, securely locking the hatch. His face grew even more flustered as he tried the handle but found it not budging.

"You shouldn't be in such a rush, Darling," Ran told him, unaware her fangs were starting to show. She skipped a few feet to the side and put her hands behind her in a display of shyness. In reality she was discreetly flipping a few switches on the communications console behind her "I've really wanted to

spend some quality time with you for a long time." She hit one final switch and smiled warmly at Ataru.

Ataru, starting to sweat, jiggled the door handle a few more times. He was afraid this visit was a mistake, but had hoped he could do Lum a favor by trying to mend she and Ran's relationship a bit. He had feared Ran might get violent, but hadn't planned on her acting like this. He gave up on the door and put his back against the wall, trying to keep an eye on the suddenly amorous girl.

Ran plastered a big smile at her face and moved closer to Ataru, only to see him quickly scoot along the wall, keeping his distance. He certainly wasn't putting on a good show so far. It was almost like he really wasn't interested in her. She grimaced slightly and wondered if she was losing it. Ran quickly decided she would have to try harder to get him to betray Lum.

"Darling, why are you way over there?" she asked him. "Don't you like me?" She put on as pitiful a face as she could imagine while continuing to edge closer.

"It's not that," Ataru worriedly answered. "I like you as a friend."

Ran made a dive for him, but he managed to stay just out of her reach.

"Darling, you used to chase me around everywhere, why are you so shy all of the sudden?" she asked him, barely hiding her exasperation.

"I'm just not interested anymore," he protested as he maneuvered around the room.

"Why the hell not?" she growled at him, then leapt at him once again.

He dodged her by only a hair as she slammed face first into the wall. Stunned, Ran slipped limply to the floor.

"Ran-chan!" Ataru exclaimed upon realizing that she had knocked herself senseless. He carefully picked her up and set her back in her chair. She mumbled a few words, but it clearly wasn't in Japanese.

He left her for a moment, going into the kitchen. Rummaging about in her freezer, he found an ice pack, which he placed gently on her head.

"I'm sorry, Ran-chan," he started out gently. "I didn't know you really felt like that about me." He paused, then brushed her red locks out of her eyes. "But I'm afraid I can't return your feelings."

Leaving her, he quickly found the switch she had used to lock the door and deactivated it. As he stepped out, he turned back to her one last time.

"Lum-chan's the one I love," he said quietly. "You have Rei, please be satisfied with that." He carefully shut the door behind him, then set out running down the path, afraid Ran might come to her senses too soon.

* * *

Back in their room, Lum watched Darling shut the door with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She'd been curious when their new relay phone had unexpectedly rang, and even more so when she saw it was a one way call from Ran. Seeing Darling at her friend's ship was certainly a surprise. For a moment Lum had been upset, thinking Darling was going back to his old ways, but his actions and final words had quickly dispelled that notion.

She glared at Ran for a moment, knowing full well the girl couldn't see her. "Idiot," she muttered, knowing exactly what her old friend had been up to.

Seeing that Ran was starting to stir, Lum cut the connection. Looking determined, she hopped up and went back over to the pile of parts she had been working on. Grabbing her tools, she tackled the next steps with renewed vigor.

Ataru reached home a short while later, acting casual. Quietly coming up the stairs, he remembered to knock on the door before entering.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Lum's voice sounded through the door. "Sure, Darling, I'm finished with the dangerous stuff."

He peeked in and saw that she was still hard at work. The pile of unopened boxes had dwindled, while the assembled components pile seemed to have grown considerably. He stepped over to her and sat down at her side. She continued her assembly without pausing to look up. He smiled as he noticed that she looked quite cute with her goggles perched on her forehead.

"How's it coming?" he asked her after a moment.

"Just fine," she replied. "How was your walk?"

"It was ok," he said noncommittally. It didn't seem like a great idea to tell Lum of his little visit to Ran's home.

"Anything interesting happen?" Lum asked, fiddling with a small piece that didn't seem to want to go into place.

"Not really," he said with a guilty look. He averted his eyes down to the components Lum had already assembled.

"Is that so?" she replied. Finally getting the parts she was working on to fit, she laid them aside. "Darling?" she hesitantly asked him, looking up at him for the first time.

Their eyes met. "What is it?" he responded after a second.

"I love you," she replied simply, giving him a quick kiss. She quickly went back to work, leaving him speechless for a few minutes.

"Lum?" he finally said.

"Yes, Darling?"

He put his arm around her middle and leaned close. "You're going to a lot of trouble for me," he pointed out.

"It's no big deal," she replied.

"It is to me," Ataru insisted. "Thanks, Lum."

She smiled at him, then shyly looked away. "This stuff is kind of a hobby to me," she explained. "So it's not like I'm not having fun."

"Is that right?" he replied. "I feel less guilty then."

"It was my idea in the first place," she protested. "You shouldn't feel guilty anyhow."

"That's true," he said, rising to his feet. "Still, wouldn't a break be nice?"

She considered for a moment then nodded. He extended his hand to her and helped her to her feet. Putting his arm around her waist, he led her out to the balcony.

The sun was just setting over the city as Lum snuggled up to her husband. . "It's beautiful," she murmured. "You have really good timing."

He drew her a bit closer to his side, but didn't speak. As the sun disappeared behind the horizon, he leaned back against the railing, keeping her by his side.

"Those goggles look really cute on you," he finally commented.

She blushed, having forgotten she was still wearing them. "You think so?"

"Yeah," he replied, suddenly bashful. "I've been thinking about that all afternoon."

"Darling, you're silly," she replied, shifting around so that she could snuggle closer to him.

He stared out at the peaceful town for a few more minutes. "Tomobiki sure is quiet lately," he noted.

"You're right," Lum said sadly. "It's like all our old friends are drifting apart lately." She looked down at the floor. "Do you think we'll be in the same class as our friends next year?"

"Probably some of them," Ataru replied. "It will be pretty funny if Mendou is."

"I can hardly imagine class without you two going at it," Lum agreed. "You almost gave Onsen-Mark-sensei conniptions every day.

"It won't be too long until we are back in school," Ataru reflected. "This summer has gone by so fast." He thought for a moment. "We should try to go on at least one trip before it ends."

"Mendou usually plans those things," Lum responded. "Why don't you pick where we go this time, and we'll see if Mendou or Shinobu wants to come with us."

"You don't want to go on a romantic trip with just me?" he teased her.

"Whatever you want is fine, Darling," she replied. "But we have every day together."

"Hopefully it won't be too long until we have our nights back too," Ataru mused.

"I hope so too," Lum agreed.

* * *

After dinner, Lum worked a bit more on assembling the parts, then called it a night. Ataru helped her carefully move the parts up against the wall, then, ignoring her protests, helped her spread out their futons.

"You've been working all day long, let me help," he told her in a no nonsense tone. She gave up and let him help.

He insisted she get settled in bed first, then turned out the lights. She watched curiously as he didn't immediately go to his own futon, but knelt down by hers instead.

He bent over her carefully and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night," he said, gazing into her eyes.

Lum reached a hand up, brushing it against his cheek. "Good night, Darling."

Ataru took her hand between his own and held it until he heard her breathing become steady with sleep. He regretfully released her and returned to his own uninviting futon. It was quite a while before he was able to fall into slumber himself.


	16. Going Digital

"Done!" Lum proudly exclaimed from her stretched out position on the floor.

"Really?" Ataru asked, looking up from his manga.

"Yep," she said. "The software just finished installing."

Ataru peeked over her shoulder at the console now taking up the corner of the room. After three days of assembly, it wasn't very impressive looking. Just a thin screen and a couple of nondescript boxes sitting next to a board covered in buttons. The screen glowed a dark green as Lum tapped a few more buttons.

The screen suddenly changed from green to yellow with black tiger stripes. Lum giggled, happy that everything seemed to be working correctly. She patted the floor next to her, motioning for Ataru to join her.

He settled down at her side, a bit eager to see what it could do.

"Ok, Darling," she began. "This is called a keyboard, and it's what you use to put the commands in."

He looked at it for a moment. "It looks a lot like the stuff I've seen those on commercials before," he noted.

"It should," Lum explained. "When I ordered the parts, I tried to get things that looked as much like current Earth technology as possible. That way you can get used to it."

"Ah," he responded. "That's a good idea."

Ataru watched enthralled as Lum guided him through entering commands and showed him the different programs she had installed.

"I did a little reading," Lum told him. "This software's pretty different than the stuff Earth computers use, but if you can get the hang of this, then learning that should be much easier." She sighed. "I couldn't make it compatible with the software they use here at all, there's too many fundamental differences."

"I see," Ataru replied, not really understanding what she meant.

She scooted over to let Ataru try it out himself. He stared at the keyboard for a moment, then warily hit the key that brought up the input commands.

"I'll show you a way around all this command based stuff once you've got the hang of it" Lum told him. "If you want to use Earth computers, you need to learn it first."

Ataru pecked in a few words. "H…E…L…P."

A box popped up with another query. "C…O…M…M…A…N…D…S," he typed next

A long list of commands and their description appeared.

Lum watched as he played around, impressed that he had paid attention so well.

Ataru scanned through the list, hitting the down arrow every so often. Eventually he found the command he sought. Bringing the original input screen back up, he tapped in "S…E…T…M…O…D…E G…U…I…."

The yellow with black stripes screen appeared again, this time with little tiny pictures covering it. Ataru paused and looked at it blankly, not sure what to do next.

Lum glared at him. She hadn't expected Darling would figure out the command to get around the text based command system by himself. Especially not that quickly.

"Darling," she scolded him. "I just said that you needed to learn the text system first."

"I'm learning," he protested. "I just made it do this," he said smugly, pointing at the screen. He frowned for a moment. "I'm not sure what to do next though."

Lum nudged him over. Bringing up the command screen again, she typed in "SETMODE CLI." The screen quickly went back to the usual dark green.

Ataru grumbled for a moment, but quickly jotted down the two commands in the small memo book that he had retrieved for this very purpose.

"I'll show you how to use that mode later," she assured him. "You're doing really well so far though."

"It's not as hard as I thought it would be," he replied, already trying a few more commands out.

* * *

"So," Ataru asked an hour or so later, "where are the games?"

From across the room, Lum rolled her eyes. She'd hoped just messing around would have occupied him longer than this. But he did seem to have a pretty good grasp of things so far. Setting down the magazine she had been reading, she floated over and sat down next to him.

"I put them in a hidden directory," she told him, taking over the keyboard. "I didn't want you just playing them instead of learning to use this thing."

"I'm not a kid," Ataru said irritably. "You don't have to hide stuff." He didn't mention that he had been diligently searching for anything resembling a game for the past half-hour without success.

"Sorry, Darling," Lum replied, quickly finding where she had put them. A short list popped up on the screen.

Ataru looked at the first item in the list. "Galactic Racing Mania?"

"That's a racing game that has stages based on real tracks from a lot of different planets," Lum explained. "Benten was always great at this game." She paused for a moment. "I wasn't sure what type you'd like, so I tried to get a variety."

He scanned the rest of the list, reading them out loud. "Oni Spacefleet 17, Perfect Life 3, Runic Worlds, and Gobiman." He glanced over at Lum. "What are these?"

Lum ticked them off on her fingers. "Oni's a spaceship battles game, Perfect Life is a simulation game, Runic is a role-playing game, and Gobiman is a platforms and mazes game."

Ataru considered the choices carefully, not having prior arcade experience with simulation or role-playing games.

Finally he chose the Oni game. Lum dug a joystick out of a nearby box and plugged it in for him. She quickly explained the basic controls, then let him try it.

Ataru was soon entranced by the game. It was very different from the simple arcade games he was used to, almost like watching a movie. He quickly built up an impressive number of losses, but kept trying.

Lum watched for a few minutes over his shoulder, wincing every time he managed to lose another life. There were a high number of enemies and the player's ship was lightly armored in the early stages, so she wasn't surprised he was having a hard time of it.

Ataru, quickly getting frustrated playing against the computer, eventually gave up.

"Eh, I'm never been that great at these things," he said, putting the joystick down. "But it's still pretty amazing."

"Darling, do you want to play against me?" Lum asked him hesitantly. She didn't think he would get discouraged as quickly with herself as his opponent. Plus it had been awhile since she'd had anyone to play games with. Her old opponent, Benten, had ceased playing years ago when she had started seriously riding airbikes as a hobby.

"You can do that?" he asked.

"Yup," she replied, plugging in another joystick and selecting the two-player mode. She started the game, selecting an orange tiger striped fighter to face off against his green one. The screen split into two halves as they began their match.

Lum quickly managed to outflank him and put a dent in his shields. He grunted and shot wildly at her, missing every shot.

Ataru looked hopelessly at the screen. Lum was great at so many sports and hobbies. It figured she would be at this too.

Seeing he was getting embarrassed, Lum decided to throw him a bone. She dodged his next volley a bit slower and lost the tip of a wing. Firing back, she managed to clip him as well.

"Damn it," he swore softly, bringing his fighter around. He blasted at her, but she had already ducked below his field of fire. She raked the belly of his fighter with her lasers, knocking his energy bar below the halfway mark.

He swung the fighter to the side, managing to avoid at least some of her fire, then angled down, trying to bring his crosshairs to bear. Suddenly remembering his homing missiles, he let loose a barrage.

Lum streaked past him, six missiles on her tail. Ataru grinned, certain he had her, but his smile quickly faded. Twisting her fighter around in a tight loop, she managed to evade all but one and came after him again, her lasers deadly accurate. His remaining energy bar quickly drained as he struggled to lose her.

Finally he managed to pull a sharp dive that got her off his tail. He turned back up and managed to strike her fighter in the side a few times.

Seeing victory in sight, Lum finally released her own missiles. They streaked across the short distance to Ataru's fighter.

The first one that impacted sent his energy bar plummeting to zero. His ship poured smoke for a few seconds, then exploded, sending him flying across space in a small escape pod.

Ataru sighed, putting down the controller once again. "How many times have you played this?" he asked weakly.

"I don't know," Lum replied merrily. "I played it a lot back in junior high with Benten." She giggled. "Benten was always much better than I was, so I almost never won."

Ataru started grumbling. It was bad enough that he had just been trounced, but it was by someone who had just admitted she wasn't great at it. He thought back to the other games. Racing was out. If she played with Benten a lot, she'd trounce him at that too. Probably the mazes game as well.

"I want to try something else," he announced. "What's that life simulation one about?"

She frowned. "You control fake people in their day to day lives," she explained. "It's not two player though," she said with a pout. "Do you want to try the racing one?"

"Not right this moment," he replied, narrowing his eyes. She seemed eager to beat him. "What about that Runic one?"

"It's got multiplayer," she confirmed happily. "I played it once a few years ago, and it seemed fun." She frowned. "Benten never liked it though, said it wasn't worth playing if it didn't have any competition."

Ataru looked confused. "So you play together on that one?" he guessed.

"Yep," she replied. "You're on the same team, so I thought it would be fun."

"What do you do in it?" he asked.

"It's kind of like playing through a fantasy movie," she explained. "You play as heroic characters and have to do battle against evil monsters and stuff."

"That sounds interesting," he admitted. "I'll try that."

She gave him a happy look. "This is going to be fun, Darling," she said, rummaging around in her nearby accessories box again. "Just give me a few minutes and I'll get it set up."

* * *

Ten minutes later Lum had prepared everything they needed. Ataru dubiously looked over the two clunky odd-looking visors she had dug out, along with another device he couldn't identify.

She pointed the mystery device and pointed it at him. "Smile," she said.

"What is it?" he asked nervously, not really comfortable with one of her alien devices being pointed at him.

"It's just a camera, Darling," she replied. "Now just keep still and smile."

He did as he was told, hoping it wouldn't blow him up or send him into some strange dimension. Luckily it merely flashed once and was done.

"Now you take my picture," she commanded him, handing him the camera and showing him the shutter button. She cutely posed for him, giving him a sexy smile.

He lined her up on the small viewfinder and quickly took the picture. Lum clapped her hands and started working on the console again.

"What kind of camera is this?" Ataru asked, trying to peer over his shoulder. To his surprise images of both of them appeared on the screen.

"It takes an image and lets me create 3d avatars," she explained, inspecting them carefully. "We could have played as generic characters, but that's boring."

She imported the completed models into the game's directory, then turned to him. "What do you want your character's name and job class to be?"

"What's my choices on jobs?" Ataru asked in return.

"Knight, Samurai, Archer, Mage, or Cleric," she read off to him. "The Knight has the best defense and strength, but is slow. The Samurai has special sword abilities and is faster. The Archer is long distance, so they don't have as much defense or attack power. Mages use offensive magic, and the Cleric uses mostly uses healing magic."

Ataru thought about it for a moment. "Samurai," he decided. "What are you going to be?"

"Archer," she replied, making the selections. "I'm glad you chose something that's close range, you can protect me." She paused and looked at him. "What name did you want?"

"Can't I just use Ataru?" he asked.

"That's no fun," Lum said, rolling her eyes. "You should pick something authentic sounding."

"Ataru's fine," he insisted.

"I'm just putting you down as Darling," she replied, sticking out her tongue and quickly typing it in.

"You didn't, did you?" Ataru protested, looking over her shoulder.

"Yep, and it's too late to change it now," Lum told him.

"What name are you putting in?" he asked her grumpily.

"Since you wouldn't choose anything authentic, I'm just going to use my name," she replied. "It'll be less confusing for you anyways."

Ataru gave her a look that suggested he wasn't amused.

"Ok," she said, turning back to the screen. "We're all set up now." She handed him one of the visors. "This game is in 3d, so you need to wear this."

She quickly showed him how to turn the visor on and gave him a run through of the controls.

"Ready?" Lum asked once he was set up to play.

"Yeah," he responded. "I think so."

She slipped her own visor down over her eyes. It was totally dark until she hit the start button on the side of the device.

"Here we go!" she happily announced.

* * *

Ataru stared in amazement as the world lit up around him. He appeared to be standing in a small room, sparsely furnished with a bed and a small table. A single shuttered window and a door were the only other features in the room.

Looking down at himself, he was surprised to see a wooden katana hanging from his side. Checking his clothes, he was dressed simply in a gray kimono with a dark blue belt. It wasn't exactly the samurai armor he'd expected, but it would do.

He went to the door and stepped out, finding himself in a plain hallway. A few more doors lined the corridor, followed by a door at the end. He strode forward, glanced around curiously as he went.

Directly behind him another door swung open. He spun, only to freeze in astonishment. Lum stepped warily out, smiling as she saw him. He ran his eyes up her body, noting every detail. A pair of sandals secured with long interlaced straps led his eyes up to the long pale green skirt that was slit on both sides up to her belt. The top of her dress was modest but sexy, revealing her slender arms all the way to the shoulders. A pair of large hoop earrings and a series of beaded ties that wrapped her hair in a long ponytail well rounded out the ensemble.

"Wow," he said, drinking her in. "You look fantastic."

Lum smiled, glad that he liked it. "You look very handsome, Darling," she told him, admiring his clean-cut look.

He finally noticed the white lettered "LUM Lvl 1" floating over her head. "I don't have Darling floating over me, do I?" he asked warily.

"Of course you do, it's the name I put in," Lum confirmed.

"I'm glad this is just a game," he replied irritably.

Lum simply smiled and walked past him, heading for the outer door. "Come along, Darling," she called back to him. "We should go look around."

Ataru followed her, but kept his grumbling up as they emerged into a European feudal era looking town. He blinked, looking around at the multitude people going about their daily lives. All of them had white tags above their heads, though many had no more descriptive names than Innkeeper, Shop keep, or Stable Boy.

Ataru grinned. This was a good chance to try out his new sword. He drew it and swiped it experimentally at the nearest passer by.

"Hey, what's the big idea, idiot!" the man yelled, drawing his own sword. Ataru noticed glumly that unlike his own it was very much made of metal. The man swung the sword towards Ataru's neck, and everything went dark.

A few moments later Ataru opened his eyes. Lum was kneeling over him holding what appeared to be a leaf of some kind. It was slowly dissolving into tiny dots of light that twinkled out as they touched him.

"Darling," Lum scolded him, "now we only have one Revive left." She glared at him. "Don't attack innocent people, especially people at higher levels than you.

He grinned and hopped up, good as new. "Sorry," he said, not sounding very sincere.

She started off without him, forcing him to run to catch up. "So now what?" he asked.

"We need to go build up some experience and money," she replied, still miffed.

"How do we do that?"

"Rabbits," she simply replied. Slinging the bow off her back, she notched an arrow. "Come on."

They headed out of town into the forest that seemed to surround it in all directions. Soon an ordinary looking rabbit emerged from a bush before them.

Ataru watched it hop around cutely for a moment. That moment was rather spoilt when an arrow plunged into the rabbit, dissolving both the rabbit and the arrow into a cloud of sparkles.

"Are you going to help or just watch?" Lum asked, already lining up her next shot.

"You complained about me hitting some innocent guy, and then you start blowing up rabbits?" he complained.

"The rabbits are just random enemies," Lum replied. "That guy was another player."

"It's not just us playing this?" he asked, unaware it was possible to do such things.

"Nope, we're linked up to the main servers," she told him, hitting her third rabbit.

Above her head the lettering changed to LUM Lvl 2. She turned to him. "Start hunting, I'm already a level ahead of you."

Shrugging, he drew his sword and swiped at a rabbit emerging from the bushes. It dissolved just like the ones Lum had shot. He felt guilty for a moment, but reminded himself that they were just part of the game. Finding a couple more, he soon heard the ding signaling that he had gained a level. He glanced over at Lum and noted with dismay that she had already reached Lvl 3.

"Like heck this isn't competitive," he muttered, swinging his sword with more vigor.

A rustling in the bushes nearby grabbed Ataru's attention. He snuck up stealthily and swung into the bush, expecting another cloud of lights to issue forth.

A rather annoyed looking warthog met his gaze instead. He stepped back a foot and swung wildly as it steadily advanced on him. A few blows landed, but the creature kept coming.

An arrow suddenly flew past him and hit the warthog. Two more arrows quickly followed, the final one dissolving the creature upon impact.

"You're supposed to be protecting me," Lum dryly noted as she joined him. "But good find, we both got another level out of it. He glanced up and saw she was now at Lvl 4.

"Sorry," he said sarcastically, annoyed that she remained ahead of him.

Lum glanced at him with concern. Darling didn't appear to be enjoying himself as much as she had hoped. She pretended to keep her mind on hunting, but kept an eye on him instead. She quickly noticed that he kept regularly stopping and glaring at the air right above her head. Suddenly she realized he was checking her higher level constantly.

"_Darling is so competitive_!" she fumed silently, getting annoyed. She decided to take it easy until he had caught up. To her relief as soon as he managed to reach the same level, he seemed to relax a bit.

A short time later they returned to town, both now equal at Lvl 5. She jingled her much more full money pouch appreciatively.

"We should go shopping now," she suggested.

"For better weapons?" he asked eagerly.

"We don't have enough for that yet," she replied. "We need to get more healing items first anyway."

"Who put you in charge of all our money?" Ataru protested.

"I did when I set up our party," she responded bluntly. "Is that a problem?"

He attempted to stare her down, but found her blue eyes to be too intimidating. With a growl he looked away.

"Come on," Lum growled back at him, grabbing his arm and forcibly dragging him towards the item shop. She quickly bought them a good stock of Heals and a couple more precious Revives.

"Well, we're broke again," she sighed.

"Already?" he asked incredulously. "We went through about thirty rabbits to get that."

"They don't drop much," she explained. "We need to find bigger stuff like that warthog if we want any serious cash."

Ataru remembered the trouble they had with the first one and swallowed.

"Come on, Darling," she called, already on her way back out of town.

* * *

A few hours later they had finally gotten enough money to buy a sword with an actual metal blade, as well as a more powerful bow. Both at Lvl 9 now, they had finally reached the point where they could each defeat a warthog with a single blow.

"We should look for a quest," Lum announced, making sure they had an adequate supply of health items in their inventory.

"What's that," Ataru replied, swinging his new blade around experimentally.

"We talk to the game characters and see if there's any tasks or adventures they need us to do," she explained. "Usually there are good items or experience involved."

"Ok," he said, looking around. "Who do we ask?"

"Anyone who's not a player," she responded. "Go ask some shopkeepers."

They separated and started talking to the random people without level signs over their head. Both quickly had to get used to repeat responses and boring conversations.

At last Ataru managed to find a butcher who spoke of a fell beast stealing cows out to the east. Figuring that sounded sufficiently quest like, he poked the butcher with his sword. Having already tested it on several other townsfolk, he wasn't surprised when the butcher dissolved into dots of light and an identical butcher quickly appeared in his place. It was meaningless, but fun enough in its own way.

Leaving the poor butcher alone, Ataru set out to find Lum and tell her about the quest he had found. Checking the nearby shops and inn, he came up empty. He started getting worried as he thoroughly explored the rest of the town and still didn't find her.

"Lum?" he called out worriedly. It was just a game, he knew, but it seemed awful real when you were there in the middle of it.

A passing female mage beckoned to him. "Are you looking for that green haired archer?" she asked him.

"Yeah!" Ataru eagerly replied, hoping he was close to finding his partner.

"She got captured by an orc raid a few minutes ago," the mage replied. "They try to grab someone like that every few hours or so."

He noticed the Lvl 21 floating over her floppy pointed hat. "Didn't you try to stop them?" he asked irritably.

"She isn't in my party," the player protested. "Plus those orcs are hard." She tossed back her chestnut colored hair and gave him a disdainful look.

He rolled his eyes. That was all he needed, Lum getting herself captured by goblins who were worrying to someone twice his own level. "Do you at least know where they went?" he asked.

"The path to their lair is over that hill," she said, pointing off to the north. "You won't make it far at your level though."

"What happens if I don't rescue her?" he asked hesitantly, rethinking his valiant rescue plan.

"Well, they keep her locked up at first. If she manages to die, they will just revive her for a while. Eventually if no one saves her, they'll just eat her."

"Then what happens?" he asked.

"If you get eaten, you lose all of your items, money, and experience," she explained, looking bored. "It's kind of an incentive to form parties, that way you'll always have someone to rescue you."

"That seems really unfair," Ataru replied with a grimace. "If the orcs are that hard, how do they expect people at my level rescue them?"

"Try to form a party with stronger people," she replied over her shoulder, starting to walk off. "Even if you can just get low level ones, enough of you peons should be able to pull it off."

Ataru glared at the retreating player. Getting an idea, he sprinted after her. "Will you join up with me?" he called out, trying his best to sound pitiful.

"Nope," she called back.

Checking the name over her head, he decided dirty tricks were in order. He hadn't worked so hard for that nice bow and items Lum had just to see them get taken away. Not to mention her hard won experience.

"Lina-chan!" he squealed, chasing her down and snagging her around the waist. "I'll be your devoted slave forever if you'll help me."

"Get off me," the mage growled, trying to slap him away. "I've already got a good group, I'm not joining up with someone as weak as you."

Ataru, a long time veteran of this game, held on despite her wild thrashings.

Desperate to get the freaky samurai off, Lina finally raised her hands up in the air, summoning a fireball. To her surprise it barely seemed to phase him.

"That should have fried you," she said, glaring at his charred but grinning face."

"I'm used to it," he glibly replied, silently thanking Jariten. Ataru quickly returned to begging. "Please, Lina-chan, don't let my Lum get eaten up!"

About to summon a much bigger spell, Lina hesitated. She'd only bought this skill a few days ago and wasn't sure she had enough experience to control it yet. Looking down at the idiot still hanging on to her, she decided it was worth risking.

"Dragon Slave!" she shouted, invoking the spell.

Ataru looked up in shock as a widening ball of energy formed in Lina's outstretched hands. She started trembling under the pressure, and he ducked his head, hoping he could somehow survive this one as well. Despite Lina's increasingly frantic efforts to control her spell, darkness soon claimed them both.


	17. Orcs and Oni

Lum angrily paced back and forth behind the bars of the cell she had been unceremoniously tossed into. She glared out at her captors, a band of seven or eight hideous creatures. She believed they were called Orcs, but it had been a long while since she had read the game manual. Whatever they were both the small cave and its cells reeked of their foul scent.

"Hey," she yelled, "When are you going to let me out of here?"

One of the orcs, towering over her by a good three feet, came close. It swatted between the bars at her, barely missing. "Silence, Prisoner," it rumbled.

She groaned, having heard that line several times already. It appeared to be about the only thing they could say.

Lum remembered that she had been conversing with a traveling merchant when the beasts had attacked, rushing from the nearby forest with their clubs drawn. She'd barely had any time to fire at them before they had clobbered her. Awakening inside the cage to find one of them casting Revive over her had been a scary experience, but now she was just annoyed.

"If I had my electrical powers, you'd be sorry," she warned them. "Don't you have to let me out eventually?"

Another orc ambled up and grinned at her, obviously not understanding what she was saying.

Lum stomped her foot. She'd awoken without her weapons or items, and thus had no way to even try escaping. The crude iron bars were quite secure.

"Darling will notice I'm missing soon," she mused quietly. "Maybe he'll even rescue me." Glancing up at the size of her captives, she wasn't encouraged. "Maybe not."

She thought briefly about quitting the game, but decided to wait it out instead. She would lose all of her progress so far if they didn't both leave the game via the exit point back at the inn.

One of the orcs glared at her menacingly as it stumbled closer. "Eat you soon," it muttered.

Lum started wishing Darling would hurry up.

* * *

Lina awoke to the comforting sight of her one of her party members leaning over her, his Revive item slowly disappearing as she recovered.

"Thanks, Gourry," she said casually. "Some novice was bugging me, and I used too powerful a spell."

"You're always doing dumb stuff like that," her partner complained. "Do you know how expensive it gets?" He glanced down at her waist. "Is this the guy who was bugging you?"

Lina lifted her head and was shocked to discover the unconscious "Darling" was still securely wrapped around her. She tried to wiggle free, but found it impossible.

"Gourry, get him off!" she snapped. "This guy is super freaky!"

Gourry attempted to pull Ataru loose, but his arms were securely locked. He considered using his sword to try to lever the lifeless letch off, but Lina quickly vetoed that.

"We could revive him," Gourry finally suggested. "He might just let go."

Lina considered it for a long moment. "I guess we don't have a choice," she conceded. "Just make sure you get him off me once he's awake."

The knight pulled out another Revive leaf and held it over the newcomer, quickly bringing him back.

Ataru stared up at Gourry, not realizing what was going on.

"Let go!" Lina screamed at him once again.

"Ah, Lina-chan, are you going to help now?" he asked sweetly.

"Help him with what?" the blonde knight asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Lina shrieked. "Just get him off."

Gourry wrapped his arms around Darling's shoulders and pulled back as hard as he could, but Ataru held on with a death grip. After straining for several minutes, he finally gave up.

"Hey, Darling," Gourry finally said.

Ataru stared at him. "Don't call me Darling."

"That's your username, idiot!" Lina said, kicking her legs in an effort to shake him loose.

Ataru didn't budge. "I didn't choose it, Lum did." He seemed to be getting depressed.

"Where's this Lum person?" Gourry innocently inquired. Maybe whoever it was could get the creep off.

"Lum's been kidnapped by ogres and I need help getting her back," Ataru gushed, looking up at Gourry pitifully. The blonde knight looked like a lot more of a pushover than his cranky mage companion, plus he had an impressive Lvl 35 over his head. "Lina-chan said she would help, but now she won't."

"I never said I would help, you liar!" Lina growled. "And it was orcs anyhow."

Gourry looked uncertain. "If you promised, we should probably go ahead and help. Plus we can't just let some poor girl get eaten."

"Oh, you're so kind," Ataru said quickly. "I'm glad to have such good friends as you two."

"We are not friends," Lina insisted. "Gourry, don't believe this idiot."

"Will you release Lina if we help?" the knight asked.

Ataru beamed. "Promise," he replied.

"Gourry!" Lina protested. "Don't get me wrapped up in this guy's problems."

"Ok, we'll help you out," Gourry promised.

Ataru immediately let go of Lina and leapt up to shake Gourry's hand vigorously. "Thank you so much," he said.

Lina scrambled up and got behind her partner, wary the strange Samurai might latch back onto her again.

"Gourry, are you really going to help this guy?" Lina scowled at him as angrily as she could manage

"Ah, come on, Lina, I promised I would," Gourry responded, putting his hand on the much shorter girl's shoulder. He turned and smiled at Ataru. "Don't you worry, we'll get your Lum back in no time."

* * *

"We don't even have the rest of our group," Lina whined. "I can't believe we're trying this."

"It's for a good cause," Gourry replied. He glanced back at their new companion, who kept insisting they call him Ataru. The guy was barely able to help in this area with his much lower strength, but even getting in a blow or two was pushing him up the ranks a lot. Ataru had already increased to Lvl 13 in just a few battles.

"I really can't believe you spent so much on another sword for him too," Lina pointed out, sadly counting their remaining coins again.

"The one he had wasn't worth anything," Gourry replied. "If I hadn't he wouldn't be able to help at all."

She glared back at the interloper. "Ataru, you are a real jerk."

Ataru smiled idiotically back at her. "Lina-chan, don't be like that."

She huffed and turned back around. "I hate this guy," she muttered.

"We were all new once," Gourry said casually. "And it's kind of cute. He's just trying to save his girlfriend."

"Wife," Ataru spoke up.

"Stop listening in on our conversation!" Lina yelled, raising her fist threateningly.

Ataru smiled. "Lina-chan, you are so cute when you are angry."

Gourry rolled his eyes and continued looking around for danger. The monsters along the Orc Trail were mostly below his level, but not by enough to get complacent. Plus the winding and rocky trail was treacherous to navigate as well.

"So are you guys friends or anything outside this game?" Ataru asked curiously, getting bored waiting for something to attack them.

"We're just friends," Lina insisted a little too quickly.

Gourry glanced at her suspiciously. "Yeah, just traveling companions here, and friends in the real world," he replied. "We don't actually live that close to each other."

"I see, I see," Ataru muttered. "So is that what you really look like?"

"You have no concept of game etiquette," Lina growled. "You shouldn't ask personal questions of other players."

"Hey, now, we're all good friends here, right?" Ataru asked with a disarming smile.

"This is how we really look," Gourry replied absentmindedly. "Except Lina cheated a bit on her bust size."

She punched her friend hard in the shoulder. "Don't tell him that!" she hissed, her face red.

"It's true," Gourry replied.

Ataru nodded seriously. All too well he knew the importance of perfect proportions.

"The cave's right up there," Gourry suddenly said, pointing to a dark spot against a nearby cliff face.

"Why's it so quiet around here?" Ataru asked, frowning. They hadn't had any random encounters in several minutes.

"The orcs tend to scare off the lesser monsters," Lina replied, now all business. "Don't worry, it'll get really busy soon."

They approached the cave warily, the sounds of the rambunctious creatures inside quickly filling them with dread.

"So," Lina said calmly, "should I just launch one of my new Dragon Slaves into the cave?"

"Won't that hurt Lum too?" Ataru demanded.

"We can always revive her later," Lina said carelessly. "Assuming she's not already been eaten."

Ataru growled. "You have no heart," he accused her.

Gourry held up his hand to silence them. "I don't think that's a good idea, Lina." He looked at her. "That's how you blew yourself up earlier, isn't it?"

Lina blushed. "If I hadn't had him breaking my concentration," she protested.

"It's not worth the risk," Gourry decided. "If we all get knocked out by the blast, those Orcs will eat us before anyone else wanders out this way."

"Fine," she grumped, unwilling to lose all her hard earned experience. "What's the plan then?"

Gourry looked at her blankly. "We rush in?"

"What kind of plan is that?" she demanded.

"Guys?" Ataru nervously piped up.

"Shut up!" Lina said without looking around. "Gourry, you never plan this stuff out, you always just rush in to help and never even consider the consequences."

"Um, guys?"

"Not now," Gourry told him, facing down his angry female partner. "How about you? You just try to blow everything up all the time!"

"I think the orcs came out to meet us!" Ataru yelled out, narrowly dodging a huge club. "I could use some help!"

The two turned around, surprised to see three of the giants already surrounding them. They went back-to-back, Gourry drawing his sword while Lina conjured up a fireball. Ataru was forced to fend for himself against the wild swings of another.

The club swung by, almost hitting him again. Suddenly he had an idea. "Weapon Break!" he shouted, utilizing a skill he had learned a few minutes before. He swung his sword at the club, pleased when it easily shattered the orc's weapon.

Meanwhile Lina had set one of the orcs on fire, while another was straining heavily to push Gourry's longsword back with it's own crude blade. The third one raised an axe and rushed forward, attempting to catch them by surprise.

Ataru meanwhile was busy dodging his opponent's wild lunges. Just because he had broken its weapon didn't mean the giant wasn't still a formidably adversary. It shot forward at him with outstretched claws, and he barely managed to jump aside in time. Bringing his new sword down hard behind the monster's head, he was relieved when the Orc dissolved away.

He looked over at the two just in time to see the third orc charging towards them.

"Watch out!" he yelled to the two.

Gourry, hearing Ataru's warning, glanced to the side and saw the oncoming orc. Using Lina as a support as he reared back and planted his armored boots into his opponent's face, at the same time reaching out with his sword and blocking the other orc's incoming axe.

The first orc went down for a moment, giving Lina time to finish him off with another spell while Gourry took care of the axe wielding one.

The orc he faced suddenly grunted and dissolved away. Ataru, his blade still thrust out in a piercing move, grinned as his number changed to Lvl 15.

"Good work," Gourry said, looking around. They had dispatched 4 orcs with little damage.

"Wow," Ataru remarked, looking at his blade. "This thing is great!"

"We're taking it back and selling it as soon as we finish this," Lina barked out. "At least we can recoup half our losses that way."

"Fine, fine," Ataru grumbled.

A few growls still issued forth from the cave.

"Well, do we take the fight in to them?" Gourry asked. "There can't be many more left, the guide says they always form tribes of seven or less."'

"I suppose so,' Lina replied dubiously. "Hey, Ataru, why don't you go in first?"

"Why me?" he demanded.

"You're the most expendable," she retorted. "While they're tearing you apart, we can get the drop on them."

"No, we'll go in together," Gourry decided. He waved off her objections. "Ataru, try to break their weapons if you can, and I'll back you up. Lina, hang back behind me and blast them if you get an opening. Try to keep us healed too."

With a yell Gourry rushed forward with his sword held high, giving the two no choice but to follow. They charged into the cave, coming face to face with the three remaining orcs. Ataru darted forward and managed to break one orc's weapon before being knocked backwards by a heavy swipe of its arm.

Lina glared as she was forced to use a Heal on him. This guy was getting more and more expensive by the minute. If it weren't for his quick reflexes and fancy sword he would be totally useless.

Due to Ataru's lucky hit leaving one of the three weaponless, Gourry was able to hold two of them back, but a third charged past him, its sword swooping down towards Lina.

To her surprise Ataru shot up and managed to deftly catch the sword blade between his palms. She watched as he struggled for a moment to hold back the heavy weapon before realizing she had a perfect chance to incinerate the orc.

"Fire Ball!" she shouted, casting flames directly into the monster's face. It dissolved quickly.

Gourry turned around after dispatching the second of his foes. "That was great!" he exclaimed.

"The idiot does have his uses," Lina grudgingly agreed.

"That's nothing," Ataru protested shyly. "I've had to do that almost daily in school."

Both of them gave him an odd look, wondering exactly what kind of school he attended.

"Well," Gourry said, breaking the awkward silence, "That should be all of them. Why don't we find this Lum before they respawn."

They rushed through the narrow corridor and quickly came upon Lum's cell. Her face lit up at the sight of Ataru and she rushed to the bars. "Darling!" she exclaimed, "You actually came!"

"Of course I did, idiot," he grumbled, taking her hands. "You've got all our money."

Lina stopped short as she caught sight of the green haired girl that was their goal. The pointed ears, the sharp fangs, and most damning, the small yellow striped horns that jutted forth from the girl's head all made her origins clear.

"You mean we spent all that money and time helping a damned _Oni_?" she hissed, turning the word into an obvious insult. She turned around and stalked off. "Gourry, we're leaving!"

Gourry looked warily at the stunned girl in the cell. Unlike Lina, his people hadn't had many dealings with the horned race, but he had heard many stories. Regardless, a promise was a promise. He swung his sword hard, shearing off the entire latch holding the cell door shut.

"Um…" Gourry began, not sure what to say. "Ataru, it's been fun, but I doubt we'll see each other again. Feel free to keep that sword, you earned it." He looked like he was about to continue, then changed his mind.

"Gourry, hurry the hell up!" rang out from the front of the cave.

"I'd better go," he said apologetically. "If you could wait a few minutes before following, I'd appreciate it."

He rushed off towards the exit, his armor clattering from his haste. Ataru watched him go, completely confused.

"What the hell was that about?" Ataru pondered out loud. "Lina-chan acted like you were some kind of monster."

Lum stepped hesitantly out of her cell, retrieving her bow on the way. "Let's just get out of here and go save," she said quietly, her face unreadable. "I don't think I want to play any more right now."

"What's wrong, Lum?" Ataru asked her, rushing to her side. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you in little while, Darling," she replied in a strange tone. "I just want to get home right now."

They waited a few moments as Gourry had requested, then set out back to the exit point back in town. The others must have taken a different path once leaving the cave, as Ataru caught no glimpse of them after that.

They made it back fairly quickly, Ataru's higher level and nice sword making it much easier. Returning to the inn, they saved and exited the game at the glowing ring Lum called an exit point.

The visors slowly went dark as they were disconnected. Taking his visor off carefully, Ataru blinked as his eyes adjusted back to the light in his room. He set the device down and looked over towards his wife.

Lum took her visor off and tossed it aside carelessly. Glancing up at the clock, she saw that it was nearly dinnertime already.

"Ok, now what happened back there?" Ataru demanded.

Lum sighed, not meeting his eyes. "Darling, could we eat first?" she said. "We need to have a talk and I'd like for it not to be interrupted."

Ataru frowned, not sure why Lum was acting like this. Lina had been rude for no reason, but it wasn't like Lum to get so depressed over something like that.

"Sure," he replied, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I'm starved, let's go see if Mom has dinner ready yet."

* * *

Dinner was rather quiet for once. Mrs. Moroboshi tried to start a conversation a few times, but Lum was oddly quiet. Ataru, worried about her, didn't say much either.

After dinner and a quick bath, Ataru went upstairs and started reading a magazine while he waited on Lum to finish her own. As time went on, he noticed she was taking much longer than usual. Lum very rarely relaxed and soaked in the tub for long after washing, once explaining that her people usually just took showers. Relaxing in water was reserved for social situations at public bathhouses or hot springs.

It had actually been a long time before she had stopped returning to her ship every single night to take a quick shower while he bathed, though she still did so most of the time. He suspected she was just stalling for time tonight, since Lum usually treasured their time together between dinner and sleeping.

Finally she appeared silently at the door, her long hair wrapped up in a towel and bundled atop her head. Ataru took in the cute but rare sight; she usually dried her hair up on the ship before coming down for the night.

Lum quickly laid out their futons on the floor. Taking a seat and curling her blanket up around herself, she looked up at him and patted the spot next to her.

Come sit with me, Darling," Lum told him softly. "There's a few things you should know."

Ataru settled down at her side, pleased that she nestled snugly against him.

She just sat there a few moments before continuing. "Darling," she began tentatively, "Do you remember when we were talking about how Oniboshi was settled?"

Ataru thought back. "Back after that crash?" he asked, starting to remember the conversation.

"Yeah," she replied. "And you asked what would have happened if Earth had lost the tag game but still resisted, right?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ataru responded, wondering where she was going with this. She had mentioned their space forces would be called to action in such a case. The practice never had sat well with him, invading people who hadn't done anything to warrant it.

"Well, unlike Oniboshi and the other colonies," Lum continued, "there was one planet that did resist." She paused for a moment. "This was about forty-five years ago. The Oni champion won the match, but the planet, Zephil, didn't give up. They were much more advanced than Earth, almost at our own level of technology."

Lum looked away. "They managed to put up a good resistance. Eventually they caused enough losses to the space forces that the decision was made to stop the invasion."

"I see," Ataru responded.

"Officially it ended there," Lum said hesitantly. "Uru claimed they were giving up occupying Zephil, and all the forces were withdrawn."

"So is that why Lina-chan doesn't like Oni?" Ataru guessed.

"No," Lum replied, looking down at the floor. "About a year or two after the invasion was called off, Zephil was hit by a plague. It was a new disease, and nobody knew where it had originated, or how to treat it. Eventually the entire planet was quarantined to keep it from spreading. Almost their whole population was wiped out." She looked back up at him. "The only ones who survived were the ones who had fled before travel was prohibited. Zephil's still under quarantine, but it's a dead planet now."

"Everyone was suspicious of Uru because of the timing," she said sadly. "Nothing was ever proven, but our relations with a lot of other planets have been shaky ever since."

"That's horrible!" Ataru replied, looking disgusted. He noticed Lum looked uncomfortable. "What do you think happened?" he asked more calmly, putting his arm around her.

"I don't know," Lum replied, her eyes quivering. "The government denies it, but there's always been rumors."

Ataru simply nodded, not sure what to say. With the Oni being the first and almost only contact Earth had had with another race, they were largely ignorant of the shifting alliances and disputes between the many races in the galaxy. It was always a bit of a shock learning just how convoluted things were out there.

"Do you know why they wanted Zephil in the first place?" Ataru finally asked.

"It was a very resource heavy planet," Lum answered quietly. "My ancestors depleted most of Uru's natural resources several centuries ago. There's been a constant search for new sources since then."

"What do you think they wanted Earth for?" Ataru asked hesitantly.

"We weren't told," she replied. "Oniboshi and a couple of the other colonies are still empty enough that there's no reason to start populating new ones. And I don't know what resources they would have been after here."

"That's a lot to think about," Ataru responded after a few minutes. "Why haven't you ever mentioned any of this before?"

Lum looked down at the floor again. "I just didn't want you to hate me," she finally said. "I know for a long time you thought I was some kind of monster."

Ataru started to object, but she cut him off. "I couldn't let you hear about it from anyone else, but I've been really scared to tell you myself. I'm really sorry."

Ataru furrowed his brow. "Idiot," he muttered. "It's not like you were responsible." He lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Whatever they might have done, why would that affect how I think about you?"

Lum threw her arms around him, shutting her eyes in relief. "I'm so glad," she gushed. "I've been so worried about how you would react."

"Hey," he said, pushing her back a bit. "In the future, just tell me these things, ok? That way you don't have to worry." He pulled her close again. "And give me some credit, I'm not going to judge you by other people's actions."

"I will, Darling," Lum assured him, snuggling back up to him. She gave him a quick kiss, then settled down.

"I'm sorry you lost your new friends," she apologized a few minutes later.

"It's ok," Ataru replied. "I don't think Lina-chan liked me much anyhow." He briefly filled her in on their short-lived alliance.

"You are terrible," she chastised him after he explained how he had enlisted their help in the first place. "You're just lucky I wasn't there."

"Hey," he growled, "I didn't have a lot of options."

"Well, thank you for saving me," she told him. "It was a lot of fun playing with you today."

"We can play more sometime, can't we?" Ataru asked. After finally getting the hang of his skills, he'd actually been enjoying it a lot.

"Sure," she replied. "But maybe I should change my avatar so that kind of thing doesn't happen again."

"Don't bother," he told her. "I want to see the real you when we play together."

"Darling, you are so sweet," she murmured. "Even if you don't make much sense sometimes."


	18. Angry Skies

"Darling!"

Ataru grudgingly opened one eye. "What is it?" he grumped. They had been playing _Runic Worlds_ into the wee hours of the morning, and he was nowhere near ready to get up.

"Darling, look!" Lum said, thrusting a small device into his face.

He blinked and tried to focus on the devices small digital screen. It read .008 W.

"What's that mean?" he asked sleepily, closing his eyes.

"It means I'm not leaking enough voltage at night to shock you anymore!" Lum excitedly told him. "We can start sleeping together again!"

His eyes snapped back open. "Really?"

"Yep," Lum said. "I've been sleeping with this meter every night, and it's been going down steadily."

"That's great, Lum," Ataru replied with a wide yawn. He smiled at her. "Why don't we go ahead and test it," he suggested, patting the futon next to him.

"Aren't you excited, Darling?" Lum replied irritably.

Ataru groaned. It didn't look like he was going to be able to go back to sleep anytime soon. "Of course I am," he replied, propping himself back up on one arm. "I've really missed having you next to me." He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her down next to him. "I'm really glad," he told her sincerely, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Lum ecstatically hugged him. "It's seemed like forever since we snuggled all night," she remarked.

"It's only been a couple of weeks," Ataru reminded her with a blush. "But I know what you mean."

Lum floated into the air and tugged on his arm. "Come on, Darling, let's go out and celebrate."

He looked up at her. "What are you wanting to do?"

"I don't know," she replied. "We haven't gone out much lately."

"I'm still low on cash," he protested, looking embarrassed.

"We don't have to spend anything," she insisted, pulling him out of bed. "We could just go on a nice picnic somewhere."

Ataru managed to get his feet under him. He looked up at her, ready to argue some more, but couldn't after seeing the look in her eyes.

"Fine," he agreed. "Where do you want to go?"

Lum pondered for a second. "We could go to the ocean," she suggested.

"Let's save that kind of trip for the very end of summer," Ataru replied. "Then we can invite Mendou and the rest." He thought about it for a few more minutes. "Where do Ran and Rei usually go on their dates?"

"There's a forest in subspace they like," Lum replied. "I think it's a bit creepy though."

"Forget that idea," Ataru hastily said. Subspace locations in general tended to creep him out anyways. Plus it was best not to chance running into those two. He still hadn't encountered Ran since that last ill-advised visit. "How about we just find a nice spot outside town somewhere?" he finally suggested, trying to keep things simple.

"We could fly out somewhere quiet in the countryside," Lum mused out loud. "Ok, Darling," she agreed. "Get ready and I'll go make our lunch."

Ataru gave her a suspicious look, still somewhat wary of her cooking. "You're going to be careful with it, right?"

Lum, halfway out the window, glared back at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. Haven't I been improving?"

"Yeah, you have," he admitted. "Sorry."

"I ought to make yours extra spicy just for that," she called back teasingly, already having left the room.

Ataru groaned. "You probably will too," he muttered as he searched for something to wear.

* * *

Ataru was beginning to wonder what was taking Lum so long when a dark shadow fell over his room. Peeking cautiously out the balcony door, he saw their UFO hovering just a few feet over the house. Lum quickly emerged and flew down to meet him.

"Are you ready yet, Darling?" she inquired.

"Yeah, just let me go get my shoes on, he responded, closing the glass door behind her. Lum followed him downstairs and accompanied him out the front door.

"Ok, Darling, hold on," she told him unnecessarily. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him up towards their awaiting ship.

Once inside he settled comfortably against a console while Lum got the ship prepared to go.

"Which direction, Darling?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter, he said. "Just pick somewhere quiet."

Lum put the ship on manual and zipped high enough to get them above the altitude jets heading for Tokyo stayed in. She had already gotten too many complaints from the local aviation officials. Luckily due to agreements between her father and the government there wasn't much else they could do but complain.

Checking her maps, she decided to head just north of the busy Kanto region. Bringing the ship down swiftly and deploying the sturdy landing struts, she landed it softly in a small field surrounded by thick forest.

"How's this spot look?" she asked Ataru.

He glanced out the window. Everything looked quiet enough. "Looks good, he replied.

She killed the engines and popped the external hatch. After it hissed open, Ataru peeked out.

"I wish this thing had some stairs," he commented, looking down at the ground a good four meters below.

"Sorry, Darling," Lum said, grabbing him by the shoulders and lifting him out. "I've told you before, Oni ships don't come with them."

Ataru suddenly realized this was why Ran had such a rickety looking set of stairs for her own UFO. "It seems like something they would consider as an option," he complained.

"They don't export these ships," she replied, releasing him as they touched down. "So it's just not offered."

"I guess I should be happy that this one has landing gear," he joked.

"My old one did too," she replied, getting annoyed. "I just didn't ever need it." She headed back inside to retrieve their supplies.

"This is a pretty nice spot," Ataru said to himself as he glanced around the clearing. He leaned back against one of the landing gear and looked up at the sky. It had been a little cloudy earlier, but now it looked like it might rain. "_That'd be just our luck_," he thought.

Lum soon returned carrying both a blanket and an oversized picnic basket. Ataru took the blanket from her and scouted around for a nice flat place to put it down. Quickly locating one that satisfied, he laid the blanket out carefully.

The two settled down, Lum quickly laying out their lunch. Ataru peered over her shoulder, trying to see what she had made.

She caught sight of his worried expression and glared at him until he backed down.

"Honestly, Darling, aren't you ever going to trust me?" Lum asked irritably.

"I'm just curious to see what we're having," he protested.

"Darling, you are a terrible liar," she flatly stated, turning back to finish her unpacking.

Ataru glared at her back. "Excuse me?"

She didn't bother to turn around. Getting exasperated, she muttered, "Can't we just have a nice picnic without you being like this?"

"Being like what?" Ataru loudly demanded.

"Being your usual jerk self!" she yelled back at him. Seeing the hurt look in his eyes, she immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry, Darling," she began.

Ataru was on his feet in an instant. "Well it's great to know what you really think," he spat out, then stalked away. Lum flew after him, attempting to apologize, but he ignored her.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," she yelled after him. He merely shot her a rude gesture and continued walking.

"Argghhh," she screamed. Flying back to the blanket, she sat down and crossed her arms, utterly furious. Why did he always have to act like this? She'd been working hard for months to learn how to season foods earth style, but Darling still acted like she didn't know how to do anything right.

* * *

A half-hour later with no Ataru in sight, Lum was starting to get worried. The wind was picking up and it was looking like it was definitely going to rain. She regretted not checking the weather that morning, but it had looked clear earlier. Packing the food back up in the basket, she gathered up the blanket and dumped both unceremoniously under the protection of the ship.

Sitting down beside their untouched picnic, she sighed heavily. Darling had been a bit of a jerk, but she really regretted losing her temper as well. They hadn't fought much lately, but when they did it seemed like things escalated rather quickly.

The low rumble of thunder jerked Lum out of her brooding. It was really getting dark now, and the hiss of approaching rain came fast. Within a few seconds it was pouring hard. Kept dry by the ship overhead, Lum stared miserably in the direction that Ataru had disappeared in.

"Darling!" she yelled as loud as she could, knowing there was no way he could hear, even if it wasn't raining. "Darling, I'm sorry already!"

The only reply was the vicious howling of the wind.

"Please come back," she yelled as loud as she could.

A nearby streak of lightning steeled her resolve. She was rising up into the air to go search for him when a hand suddenly clamped down on her shoulder. Pulling her gently back towards the middle of the dry area, Ataru hugged her tightly.

"Darling?" she said softly, relieved that he was safe. "Where were you?" He appeared to be as dry as she was.

He looked embarrassed, but nodded towards one of the far landing struts.

"How long have you been hiding back there?" Lum demanded, getting angry that she had been worrying for nothing.

"A while," he admitted, releasing her and looking away. "I didn't want to get caught out in the rain."

"Idiot," she said. "Why were you hiding?"

"Didn't feel like arguing," he replied tersely.

She grabbed his hand and clasped it between her own. "Don't do that to me, Ataru."

He glanced at her, unused to her calling him by name. "Do what?"

"Don't just run off," she told him. "Yell at me, curse me, whatever it takes, but don't just leave me like that."

"I don't know if I can promise that," he said. "If it came down to saying things I might regret, I'd rather not risk it."

She pulled him close to her. "I don't care, Darling," she replied. "I just can't stand the thought of you leaving me."

Ataru coughed nervously, eager to change the subject. "I'm pretty hungry," he told her. "Why don't we go ahead and eat under here?"

"I guess it's dry enough," Lum said, not releasing him. "Do you really want to eat my cooking?"

"Yeah, I do," he said, regretting his previous hesitancy. "I'm sorry about earlier."

She finally let go of him. "Ok then, let's get things set back up."

* * *

A few minutes later they had the blanket spread back out and were laying out the food and drinks again.

"This isn't exactly how I pictured our picnic," Lum said, snuggling close to Ataru's side. "But this is romantic in its own way."

He nodded his agreement. Despite the storm, it was still pretty cozy cuddled up next to her. The rain beating down all around them just served to make their little shelter feel more safe and intimate.

Taking a bite of his sandwich, Ataru was pleased to note tasted good, not bland or too spicy. He immediately felt even worse about his attitude earlier.

"It's really good," he told her. "You're getting the seasoning perfect now."

Lum blushed. "I told you so, Darling," she murmured. "It tastes bland to me, but if that's how you like it…" She went back to liberally adding chili peppers to her own sandwich.

"Thanks," Ataru said quietly. "I do appreciate it."

She was silent for a few minutes while they ate. "I try to be a good wife," she finally said, looking sad again.

He glanced at her with an irritated expression. "Don't say such silly things."

"It's not silly," she protested. "I really do try hard."

"Lum," Ataru said, putting his arm around her shoulders, "I think you are great." He suddenly grinned. "You have to put up with me, after all."

"You are a bit taxing at times," she said, smiling a bit. "But I wouldn't want to change a thing about you."

He snuck in a quick kiss on her cheek. "You're just saying that," he murmured.

"No, I'm not," Lum responded in a serious tone. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I feel really happy when we're together like this."

"This is turning into a really nice day," Ataru commented, idly playing with a few locks of her long hair. The rain didn't appear to be letting up anytime soon, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

* * *

Back in Tomobiki, things were not as peaceful. The metal of Ran's outside stairs squealed as the pink ship grudgingly rose from its resting spot. With a shudder the entire staircase fell away, crashing on the wet ground below.

Inside the ship Ran paced back and forth worriedly. "Damn it Lum," she shouted. "Where the hell are you?" She'd already tried both the Moroboshi's home phone and Lum's ship repeatedly and still hadn't gotten an answer from either one.

She dialed in another number on the console. Oyuki's face immediately appeared on the screen.

"Any luck?" Oyuki asked, serene as ever.

"Of course not!" Ran growled. "She won't pick up."

"Please keep trying Ran," Oyuki requested earnestly. "Things are still quiet here, but stay on your guard."

"And what are you doing to help?" Ran demanded.

"I am sorry, but my responsibilities as queen must come first," Oyuki replied, giving Ran a chilling stare. "We are currently still working on preparations to evacuate."

"Whatever!" Ran said, ending the call. It looked like the ice princess wouldn't be any help at all. Ran walked nervously over to the window, peering through the rain at the town far below. Her scanners still weren't picking Lum or Ataru up.

A orange blur suddenly streaked by her ship. "Rei-san!" she chirped, clapping her hands together. She went back to the viewscreen and answered his incoming hail.

"Rei-san, I'm so glad you're here!" she gushed.

Rei, at the seat of his small Oni fighter, merely greeted her with a nod. "Lum?" he asked seriously.

Ran shook her head. "I've still not been able to find Lum-chan," she said irritably. "I need to scan from a higher altitude."

He nodded that he understood and brought his craft in close to hers.

"Oh, Rei-san, are you going to escort me?" Ran joyfully asked.

He nodded again and gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you so much, Rei-san!"

She cut the connection, trying the Moroboshi's phone again. It rang a few times, but then to her joy someone finally answered.

"Hello, Moroboshi residence," a female voice answered. Ran's face sunk as she realized it was Ataru's mother.

"Hi," Ran said sweetly. "Is Lum or Darling home?"

"I believe they went out on a picnic, Ran-chan," Mrs. Moroboshi replied.

"Ok," Ran said, trying not to lose her temper. Who went on picnics in the middle of a storm anyways? "Is your husband home by any chance?" she asked next.

"He's working right now," Mrs. Moroboshi responded, sounding confused.

Ran sighed. Oyuki had been specific that they both needed to be picked up as well. "Alright," she continued resignedly, "Could you please come outside for just a moment?"

"In the rain?" Ataru's mother replied incredulously. "Whatever for?"

Ran finally lost her temper. "Just do it," she growled.

Slamming down the phone, she dropped the ship down, heading for the Moroboshi's house. Rei followed close by, scanning the skies constantly.

Watching the outside monitor, Ran saw Mrs. Moroboshi peek cautiously out the door. Seeing both a large pink spaceship and a tiger striped smaller craft hovering just over the roof, she stepped out a bit, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Gotcha!" Ran laughed, flipping the switch that activated the ship's tractor beam. Mrs. Moroboshi shrieked as she was suddenly torn from the ground and brought in through an open hatch.

She sat there dumbfounded for a moment, then leapt to her feet. "What is going on?" the confused housewife asked angrily.

"Ran-chan is sorry, but I didn't have a choice," her captor replied sweetly. "Which way is your husband's work?"

"What's going on?" Ataru's mother demanded again.

"Just tell me already!" Ran shrieked, her patience totally gone. "This isn't a damn game, I need to find him now!"

Stunned by Ran's intensity, Ataru's mother weakly pointed towards downtown.

Ran gestured at the cute phone sitting on a nearby table. "Could you please give him a call and tell him to come outside?" she asked, abruptly back to her cute self. "I'll explain once we get him on board."

* * *

Ten minutes later a very confused looking Mr. Moroboshi had joined his wife aboard the ship. "What's going on?" he asked his frazzled wife.

She shrugged and gestured towards Ran. "Ask her," she said irritably. "I've not been told anything."

"I've really got to get back to work," he worriedly protested. "I'm only on a ten minute break."

Ran glared back at both of them. "Calm down for a few minutes," she said as neutrally as she could. "I really need to find Lum's ship right now."

Pulling the saucer into a steep climb, she quickly ascended into the upper atmosphere, Rei matching her every move. Trusting that Lum wouldn't have left Japan, she set the scanners for medium range. A blip to the north soon showed up.

"What the hell is she doing that far away?" Ran cursed, heading for the source of the signal at top speed.

"I really must ask, what is going on?" Mrs. Moroboshi demanded behind her. "My husband could lose his job over this!"

"That's the least of our worries," Ran replied between clenched teeth. "Ok, listen up, this is what's going on." She briefly outlined the situation to Ataru's parents as they closed in on Lum's ship.

Mrs. Moroboshi looked stunned. "So why are you involving us in this?" she asked hesitantly.

"They'll likely consider you part of Lum's family," Ran explained patiently. "And they are well known for being thorough."

Both of her passengers paled at the tone of her words. Clasping each other for comfort, they stared at the viewscreen. A tract of forest stretched below. Soon a familiar yellow and black striped ship parked in a small clearing came into view.

Ran carefully set the ship down next to it, barely having room to land. Rei remained overhead, continuing to fly cover for them. Her monitors showed a pair seated underneath the ship, and she sighed, glad that she wouldn't have to go hunting for them.

* * *

Ataru and Lum looked on confused as they saw Ran's ship come swiftly down just a few meters away from their own. The ship's heavy landing gear settled into the muddy field and sank in.

"Isn't that Ran's ship?" Ataru asked, standing up and peering out.

"What the hell is she doing?" Lum demanded, upset that their afternoon had been interrupted. "Come on, Darling," she said, grabbing him securely around the shoulders and flying back up into their own ship.

Once inside, she released Ataru and sped over to the communications console. It was flashing with several messages. Ignoring them for the moment, she switched on the viewscreen to answer Ran's incoming call.

Ran's angry face appeared on the screen, and Lum was shocked to see both of Ataru's parents standing behind her.

"What's going on," Lum demanded. Ataru strolled over behind her and looked on curiously.

"We need to get in the air," Ran replied urgently. "I'm taking off, I need you to follow me."

Lum frowned. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain," she said firmly. "Where are we going, and why have you got Darling's parents?"

Ran sighed. No one wanted to listen to her today. "Oniboshi just declared their independence from Uru," she quickly explained. "It's not going to be safe here."

Lum stared at the screen for a long moment, dumbfounded. "What?" she incredulously demanded. "Why in the world would they do that?"

"Apparently," Ran said, already busy making preparations to take off again, "this morning the High Council on Uru declared Earth's victory in the tag game invalid. They must want this planet pretty bad for some reason."

Lum started getting their engines powered up. "That doesn't make sense," she griped. "And what's that got to do with Oniboshi?"

"Your father refused his invasion orders," Ran replied. "They declared him a traitor, but the governor of Oniboshi refused to hand him over. Most of the Third Fleet's defected with him."

Ran's ship rose smoothly back into the sky, followed closely by Lum's.

Lum closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm down. In just a few minutes it seemed like her entire world had descended into chaos. She took a few deep breaths, then straightened up.

She half turned to Ataru, who appeared completely confused. "Darling, we're going to have to get off Earth for a while," she regretfully informed him. "The Uru government doesn't stand for treason, and they'll hunt down anyone associated with Dad."

"Did she just say they're going to invade Earth?" Ataru demanded, not believing what he was hearing.

Sounded like it," Lum sadly responded. "With the Third Fleet gone, it might take them a little longer to mount a full invasion, but we need to get out of here now. We don't have any serious weapons on this thing, and they'll probably be looking for us."

"This is ridiculous!" Ataru protested. "We can't just leave."

"No choice," Lum said, switching the channel to Ran's ship back on. "Ran, where are we heading?"

"Neptune," Ran replied. "Uru declared war on them as well."

"Why?" Lum responded. "Neptune doesn't even have a real military."

"Neptune has always been closely allied with Oniboshi," Ran reminded her impatiently. "You never did pay any attention in class." She looked away. "We're supposed to join up with Oyuki's fleet and head for Oniboshi," Ran continued. "The Third Fleet won't be able to protect any of us way out here."

The three ships broke through the atmosphere, Rei taking the lead as they headed out into space.

"Has anyone warned Earth?" Ataru fretted, looking forlorn back at the quickly dwindling planet.

"Lum's father has been in contact with them," Ran explained. "He's advised them not to resist when the invasion comes."

Ataru remembered what Lum had said about the last planet that had resisted them. "So we're just going to abandon everyone?" he asked weakly.

"Just for now," Ran assured him. "Uru's got a lot of enemies who won't be happy about this." She smiled, her fangs clearly showing. "Oyuki's been on the phone all afternoon trying to gather support as well."

Ataru sat down in the floor nearby, trying to cope with the sudden rush of bad news. "I don't feel good too good," he groaned. "This can't seriously be happening."

Lum gave him a worried glance. She wanted to take the time to comfort Darling, but she was having a hard enough time keeping it together herself. Right now keeping an eye on the monitors was more important.

She gave him a few minutes before speaking. "Darling," she said, her voice nearly breaking, "I'm really sorry about this."

Ataru stared silently at the floor, unable to speak for the moment. Just a few minutes ago he'd been having a great time, joking and relaxing with Lum. They had been discussing an upcoming trip with their friends, wondering about the upcoming school year, reminiscing about past adventures. All that seemed very distant now.


	19. Solar Exodus

The trip to Neptune passed by without incident, to everyone's relief. The two saucers descended near Oyuki's palace, but didn't land. Rei remained at a higher altitude, keeping an eye out for any intruders.

Ran flicked on the communications channel as soon as they arrived. Oyuki appeared, still looking as conserved as ever.

"Ran," she greeted her old friend, "I am pleased that you all made it here safely."

"How much longer is this going to take," Ran growled, looking out at the mass of odd creatures being herded towards the palace.

"We have gathered almost everyone," Oyuki confirmed. "The Lemmings and Sherbets are all present, and there are just a few more groups coming in."

Ran looked at her derisively. "Only you would be worried about evacuating animals."

"They are my loyal subjects just as much as my servants are," Oyuki replied, her eyebrow twitching almost imperceptibly. "I am not leaving until everyone is safe."

Lum cut into their conversation. Looking tired, she asked, "Do you need any help?"

"Thank you, Lum, but we have it under control," Oyuki replied.

"Ok," Lum said. She paused for a moment. "I'm really sorry about this, Oyuki."

"It is not your place to apologize," Oyuki told her. "My parents signed protection agreements with Oniboshi years ago. We have always known that this was a possibility." She abruptly cut the connection, needing to return to directing the efforts to get everyone inside the palace.

Lum sighed and turned away from the screen. "Darling, how are you holding up?" she asked gently.

Ataru looked up from his seat on the floor. "I'm ok," he replied, still looking a bit shell shocked.

Lum settled down beside him and ensnared his arm. "I never thought anything like this would happen," she said earnestly, the stress catching up to her. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she closed her eyes. "Whatever happens, I'm glad you're here with me."

Ataru, feeling her start to tremble, put his arm around her. "Lum, it's going to be ok," he told her. He was still scared, but the fact that she was too was somehow reassuring. "Your family is all ok, right?"

She looked at the floor. "Ran said Ten's parents made it to Oniboshi before things got bad," she confirmed. "They were the only other ones off planet."

"It's disgusting that they would go after family like that," Ataru noted.

"It's how they ensure no one thinks about betraying them," Lum sniffled. "I'm sorry I've dragged you into this whole mess."

"You didn't drag me into anything," Ataru firmly replied. "I'm here right now because I love you, and that's not going to change."

Lum finally looked at him. "Darling, I love you too," she said, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest.

Ataru wrapped an arm around her back and cuddled her close. Trying to comfort Lum was a welcome distraction from his own worries.

* * *

Back in the command center of the palace, Oyuki's head snapped up as the alarms sounded on the scanner array. "Please report," she requested.

The communications officer frowned. "My Lady, we have incoming fighters, six of them. They'll be here in about ten minutes.

"Have they identified themselves yet?" she asked.

"Not yet. It appears they are Oni fighter craft, but there's no way to tell which faction."

"Keep attempting to hail them," Oyuki ordered. "If they don't respond, send out all our squadrons to intercept them." She might not have much force at her disposal, but she had more than enough to take down a few fighters if it came down to it.

A few minutes later the relieved communications officer spoke up. "They're from the Third Fleet," she confirmed. "They've been sent out to help escort us."

The fighters came in fast and joined Rei in patrolling the sky above the palace.

"That was kind of Invader," Oyuki stated. "We shall have to thank him when we arrive."

One of the new pilots hailed them. The communications officer brought him up on the screen.

"Good day, ma'am," the middle aged pilot greeted her. "I'm Lieutenant Inukai, assigned from the carrier _Lamu_." He paused, looking concerned. "Do we have an ETA on departure?"

Oyuki stepped up to the screen. "It should not be more than five more minutes," she responded. "Is this acceptable?"

"We believe a small Urusein fleet is heading towards this system," the officer informed her. "The sooner we can get going, the better."

"Understood," Oyuki replied, stepping away to double-check on preparations. "Inform our guests that we are about to depart," she commanded. "I want all other ships off the ground now." She switched on another screen. "Is everyone aboard?" she asked.

"Milady, we just got the last few snow cows on board," her logistics officer replied. "It will be a few more minutes until everything is safely secured."

"There will not be time for that," Oyuki told her. "We are lifting off now. Try your best to keep things under control." She cut the connection and switched to the open frequency channel.

"I apologize for the trouble, but we are taking off immediately. All ships, please stay close to the _Minokichi _once we are in the air." She cut the connection once again and turned to the helmswoman. "I trust we are ready to depart?"

"Status is all green, My Lady."

"Then let us be on our way," she commanded, taking one last look out the window at her frozen homeland. It could very well be a long time before she would lay eyes on it again.

* * *

Back on the UFO, Ataru stared out the window as the nearby palace began to shudder. The ice overhanging the top began to crack apart and fall, smashing into the ground in great chunks. To his amazement the entire structure suddenly broke free of the ice surrounding it and began climbing steadily towards the sky. Around the plateau a variety of much smaller ships appeared, shaking off their snowy covering.

"I had no idea that place was a spaceship," Ataru commented, awestruck at the sight.

"It was the original colony ship of Oyuki's people," Lum answered, manning the controls. "They've always kept the systems intact just in case it was needed."

"Smart move," he remarked, admiring the sleek vessel as it rose beside them.

"We're going to stay close to it," Lum explained. "Oyuki's only got a few squadrons of fighters, and it'll be easier for them to cover us if everyone stays together."

From unseen hatches small craft suddenly emerged. Ataru counted four groups of six fighters swarm forth before they streaked away to cover the perimeter of the fleet.

Oyuki's face appeared on the viewscreen, once again utilizing the open frequency. "We are leaving our homes on Neptune," she stated calmly, "But this is not a permanent departure. Be assured, my friends, we shall return to this land someday soon." She paused for a long moment, looking reflective. "May you all be with us when that day comes."

The channel cut off again, leaving them in silence. Finally Lum spoke up. "Oyuki-chan is so strong," she marveled. "I couldn't keep things together like that."

Ran, listening in, suddenly appeared on the screen. "Oyuki's just a showoff," she complained. "Trying to be such a big shot."

"She is their queen," Lum pointed out defensively.

"Big deal," Ran replied. "If I were in her position, you wouldn't see me acting so uppity. And why are you always sticking up for her, are you one of her patsies now too?"

Ataru stepped up. "Ran-chan, could you knock it off for a while?" he requested quietly. "I don't think this is really the time for that."

"Darling, don't say such mean things," Ran replied, her voice suddenly innocent.

He grunted and turned away, tired of the redheaded girl's split personality. "We're all having one hell of a day, and you're really not helping," he said.

"That's some gratitude," Ran said, fuming. "After all the trouble I went to save your parents and find you two."

"You know what, you're right," Ataru replied, suddenly calm. He looked at her. "I apologize. Thank you Ran-chan, you're a great friend. We all appreciate what you've done for us." Finding the appropriate button, he abruptly closed the channel.

"You're going to piss her off," Lum warned him.

"I was being sincere," he protested.

"That's what is going to piss her off," Lum replied. "She thrives on conflict."

"Well, if she's going to be pissed anyways," he said, shrugging helplessly, "she might as well be pissed off at me too. I really don't care right now."

"Are you doing ok, Darling?" Lum asked.

He sighed. "About as much as can be expected," he replied. "I'm sort of really wanting to freak out right now, but I'm pretty calm for some reason."

She smiled. "Darling, I think you're holding up pretty well." She motioned for him to come closer. As soon as he did, she gave him a quick kiss before returning to her controls.

"What was that for?" he wondered aloud.

"Just for being you," she replied.

* * *

The assorted vessels that surrounded the _Minokichi_ soon had to cut their speed drastically to keep in formation with the lumbering giant.

"I'm sorry, but this really is our top speed," the flustered communications officer apologized to someone.

"What is the problem?" Oyuki responded, approaching her station.

"One of the ships from Earth keeps complaining about our speed, My Lady," the officer replied hesitantly. "I've explained that the ship is old, but she is rather insistent."

Oyuki dialed up Ran's ship on her own screen. The agitated girl glared at her at for a moment, then started looking worried as Oyuki continued to stare at her in silence.

"I trust you will not bother my officer again," Oyuki finally stated, seeing the redhead's nerve breaking.

"Ran-chan was just worried that we won't make it out of her in time," she whined.

"You are welcome to go off on your own, but I regret that I can not provide you any protection in that case," Oyuki responded, cutting their link off.

Ran glared at the blank screen for a moment. "Damn it!" she shouted. "Like that's even an option." She almost called Lum up to complain some more, but remembering Darling's mood she decided to let them be.

"Hey," she said, picking the Moroboshis as her only available sympathetic ears, "can you believe the nerve of that ice woman?"

"Ran-chan," Mrs. Moroboshi scolded her, "cut it out." She went back to calmly sipping her tea at the breakfast table. "You're being a pest, dear."

Ran blushed, unused to being scolded by the older woman. She turned her attention to Ataru's father, but he was firmly entrenched behind a newspaper. She briefly wondered where he got it, since she was certain he hadn't had it when he came on board.

"But-" she began again.

"Calm down, Ran-chan," Mrs. Moroboshi told her patiently. "If that's as fast as they can go, then there's no help for it."

Ran sighed, but quietened down. She just couldn't understand why everyone always ganged up on her.

* * *

They were nearly reached Pluto's orbit when the sensors started going haywire aboard the massive colony ship.

"We've got several vessels emerging from subspace," the communications officer announced. "Appears to be an Oni capital ship and three heavy escorts."

Oyuki nearly bit her lip, getting nervous at last. "Get me Lieutenant Inukai," she commanded.

The Oni pilot's face appeared on the screen.

"They aren't friendly," he confirmed. "It's the fleet from Uru."

"What are our chances to evade them?" Oyuki asked calmly.

"Not a chance at this speed," the lieutenant responded. "They'll be within firing range several minutes before we can get far enough out to warp."

"Please hold your positions," she requested. "I shall see what I can do to stall them, it may give us enough time." She turned back to the communications officer. "Please connect me to the commander of the Urusein fleet."

A few moments later a large glowering Oni filled the viewscreen.

Oyuki attempted to speak, but the Oni silenced her with a motion of his hand.

"Cut your engines immediately," the commander ordered. "You have no chance of escaping." He frowned upon seeing all of the bridge crew was composed of women. "Where is your leader?" he asked curtly.

"I am Oyuki, Queen of Neptune," she stated calmly, her face displaying no sign of emotion. "May I ask why you are threatening my people? We pose you no threat."

The Oni leader laughed. "I would certainly think not." Glaring at her, he continued. "Not only are you harboring several known traitors, you are accompanied by stolen Oni interceptors." He snarled, "Now cut your engines and prepare to be boarded."

"I am afraid I can not comply," Oyuki replied. "I am well aware of what you intend for us if we allow you to board." She paused, not blinking as she stared down the irate commander.

"You have orders to capture my friends and put them on trial for treason, do you not? I am well aware of the penalty for that crime on Uru." She glanced around the bridge. "I also imagine you will not leave any of us alive once you have what you want."

The taken aback commander quickly recovered. "We do not plan to hurt anyone, but we will have to take contro-."

"Do not lie to me," Oyuki interrupted him. "I am very familiar with your methods. We will not surrender to you."

"You leave us no choice," the commander said just before the screen went blank.

"I had hoped he would try to convince us longer," Oyuki commented quietly. "I suppose they never had any intention of taking prisoners."

Cutting back to the open channel, Oyuki spoke to all friendly ships. "We are about to be fired upon by the Oni forces," she said. "All ships should seek shelter on the far side of the _Minokichi._ All interceptors, prepare for incoming fighters. I wish you luck."

"My lady!" the weapons officer protested once the transmission was over. "We can't repel firepower of that magnitude."

"I am well aware of that," Oyuki responded. "Yet we have no choice. Prepare to return fire, perhaps we can at least take a few of them down with us."

The officer bowed stiffly and turned to obey. "All guns, prepare to fire. Activate all anti missile defenses."

Oyuki addressed her command crew one last time before they engaged. "It has been an honor to serve as your queen," she told them earnestly. A lone tear escaped from her expressionless eyes. "Thank you all."

* * *

Lum watched the screen go black after Oyuki's gloomy message to the fleet. Maneuvering the ship carefully, she brought them around to the far side, catching one last glimpse of the incoming Oni ships before the massive hull of the Neptunian flagship blocked them from view.

"It looks like Oyuki intends to fight, Darling," she said despondently. "There's no way we can outrun them."

Ataru, close by her side, reached out and took her hand. "This is it then?"

"Most likely," she responded, tears filling her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Darling."

Ataru squeezed her hand and gave her a weak smile. They both turned back to the monitors right as a bright flash appeared above them. It appeared the _Minokichi_ had taken its first major hit. The great ship shuddered but kept moving ahead.

"How much do you think it can take?" Ataru asked as another hit landed.

"Not enough," Lum replied.

A single Oni fighter emerged overhead, followed closely by two others. It twisted expertly through their fire and swung around, managing to land a fatal hit on one of its pursuers before disappearing from their view again.

"That was probably Rei," Lum commented. "He's considered one of the best pilots in the Third Fleet."

"Is that so?" Ataru asked, not having expected it of the dimwitted Oni.

Another hit rocked the colony ship violently.

The main viewscreen suddenly lit up again with Oyuki's image. In the background her crew scurried about in obvious panic.

"We will not be able to hold out much longer, I am afraid," she began. We are going to attempt to close with the enemy vessels and occupy them. Please take this opportunity to try to make it into subspace."

She paused briefly. "All remaining interceptors, please switch from protecting the _Minokichi_ to covering the fleet's escape."

The massive ship slowed even further and started to change course. Oyuki switched to a private channel and contacted only the two saucers.

"Ran, Lum, I apologize for not being able to provide better protection than this. If you make it, please ensure any surviving Neptunians are taken care of on Oniboshi."

"Oyuki-chan!" Lum protested. "Don't do this!"

"Don't be stupid!" Ran chimed in. "You are going to play the stoic hero to the very end, aren't you?"

Oyuki merely smiled and severed the connection.

"Damn it!" Ran's voice rang out harshly over the two ship's interiors. "What the hell does she think this is going to accomplish? We don't have a chance of making it far enough on our own."

Rei's voice suddenly cut in to their private channel. "Benten," he said, sounding happy.

"Benten?" Lum questioned. "What about Benten?"

"Rei-san, what is going on?" Ran demanded, not bothering to mask her irritation.

A blue bolt streaked across space from their right. Checking their monitors, they were shocked to see a Fukujin battleship emerging from subspace ahead of them, its forward batteries trained presumably on the Oni ships beyond.

The Neptunian flagship jerked to a halt and slowly swung back around to its original course as two more battleships emerged. Return fire streaked across the void as the Oni ships turned their attention to the new threat.

Once again Oyuki appeared on the screen. "It appears we have been saved," Oyuki said, her calm demeanor returning. "All ships, fall back into formation behind us. We are returning to our original plan."

"Who are they?" Ataru demanded.

"Benten's father!" Lum answered, clapping her hands together excitedly. "We've actually got a good chance now, Darling!"

He looked relieved. "The Lucky Gods are helping us?"

The screen lit up again. "That's right," Benten said amiably. "Sorry we're late, it took a while to mobilize."

Oyuki nodded politely to her friend. "Thank you, Benten. I did not believe your people would arrive in time. I am pleased that I was wrong."

"We couldn't let you have all the fun," Benten teased.

* * *

The Neptunian fleet emerged from subspace and headed for Oniboshi at a slow pace, the crippled colony ship moving even slower than it had been before. To their relief several Oni warships were stationed at the outer reaches of the system, providing protection against any possible attacks.

Lum checked her monitors as they headed in, pleased to see that almost all of the ships that had lifted off from Neptune had arrived safely. However the three missing fighters from Lt. Inukai's squadron and the nearly halved number of Neptunian interceptors were a grim reminder of their close call. She could only hope there would be no further causalities from the Fukujin forces covering their retreat.

The viewscreen beeped with an incoming message. Ataru, feeling fatigued, stayed sitting nearby as Lum answered it.

"Lum, Son-in-Law!" Invader greeted them.

"Hi, Dad," Lum responded wearily.

Invader smiled. "I'm really glad you all made it," he told her.

Lum seemed ready to cry. "We lost some people before we could jump out," she managed to say. "It was bad."

Invader frowned, having already gotten a battle report from the surviving squadron members. "I'm sorry, Lum. We're stretched thin keeping Oniboshi safe right now, or I'd have sent more help." He would have sent every ship he had if it were possible.

He paused for a minute, seeing Ataru sitting quietly in the floor. "You got his parents, didn't you?" he asked quietly.

"They're on Ran-chan's Ship," Lum confirmed.

"That's excellent news," her father replied. "Hey, Son, cheer up, it's going to be ok."

Ataru wondered how the warlord could be so jovial at a time like this, but turned and smiled to reassure Invader that he was ok.

"Lum," her father said, suddenly all business. "There's probably going to be a lot of injured coming in from the _Minokichi_ when you land. Your mother and your aunt are waiting to help out at the spaceport. If you're able to give them a hand, I'd appreciate it."

"Of course I will, Dad," Lum told him. She thought for a moment. "Do you have somewhere for Darling and his parents to stay?"

"I want them to stay at our house until we can get something set up," her father replied. "We've got a lot of refugees from Uru who sided with us as well," he explained, "so we're going to have to set up temporary shelters for everyone."

"Ok," Lum nodded.

"Well, I've got to get back to work," Invader said regretfully. "It'll be at least a couple of days before I'll see you most likely. Please take care of your mother."

"I will," Lum promised. The viewscreen darkened again.

"This all still seems so unreal," Lum said quietly, sinking down next to Ataru. "I can only imagine what you're going through."

"It's ok," Ataru replied listlessly. "Things are bad here too it seems."

"I'm sure everyone back home will be ok," Lum said, trying to cheer him up. "Even if Uru takes over, we'll get enough support to drive them out."

"I hope so," Ataru replied, not sounding convinced.

Lum privately wondered how long he could go without cracking up from stress. In just a day almost Darling's entire life had been ripped from him. She couldn't help but feel solely responsible. If she had just left him alone after the tag game, he'd still be safely back in Tomobiki.

But as much as she told herself that, she couldn't help but selfishly be glad that he was there with her.


	20. Getting Settled

Lum sighed in relief as the damaged _Minokichi_ settled heavily into place just outside the spaceport. There had been worries that it would have trouble landing with the damage it had received, but they had managed to pull it off. She landed her own craft carefully out of the way, not wanting to block the emergency crews heading out to help.

She cut the engines and popped the outer hatch, glad to feel fresh air pouring in again. Ataru looked up glumly but didn't bother to stand. Lum hovered over him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ok, Darling, are you ready to go?" she asked. Not getting a reply, she wondered if he was feeling ok. "You can stay on board if you want, it might help if you got some sleep."

"No, I'm fine," Ataru said after a moment. He forced himself to rise. "I'd like to help out if I can." He hesitated for a moment. "I don't know what I can do, but I'd like to at least try."

Lum smiled. This was more like the Darling she knew. He had barely said a word since they had escaped Earth's system; he just sat there, barely reacting to anything she said. She knew that Darling detested war in the first place. Actually having been through a battle even just as a passenger had obviously been very hard on him.

Lum hugged him briefly. "I'm sure there will be plenty to for us both to do," she told him. She gently picked him up and carried him outside, both squinting in the bright morning sunlight.

Ran's ship had landed close by, and the three occupants had already disembarked. Lum took note of the rope ladder leading down from the pink ship's hatch, planning to procure one for their own UFO. Darling would no doubt appreciate not having to be carried back and forth constantly.

Ataru immediately jogged over to make sure his parents were all right. Being trapped alone with Ran for that long was not likely to have been a pleasant experience. Lum followed and was glad to see they didn't appear to be any worse for the journey.

"Mom, Dad," Ataru greeted them worriedly. "Are you ok?"

"We're fine," Ataru's mother said. "Ran-chan is an excellent pilot."

Ran beamed, obviously in the midst of her cute personality.

Mrs. Moroboshi gave Ataru a tight hug. "Don't worry, we'll get through this as a family."

His father looked embarrassed. "Yes, we'll get by somehow, I'm sure," he said nervously, patting Ataru on the shoulder in a weak attempt to reassure his son.

Ataru smiled. "I'm just glad you made it ok," he told them.

The sound of an approaching vehicle caught their attention. A van sized hovering vehicle roared up, Lum's mother at the wheel. She quickly hopped out and embraced Lum while worriedly muttering in the Oni language.

After Lum managed to reassure her mother that they were all ok, the Oni woman finally released her. Swooping next to Ataru, she gave him a tight but brief hug. He blushed bright red and kept his arms out to the side, well aware of Lum's critical gaze.

She next turned her attention to his parents and Ran, greeting them enthusiastically. Ran, the only one who could understand a word she was saying, nodded and looked shy, her innocent act still going at full power. The other two nodded as well, though their confusion was evident.

Satisfied that everyone was ok, Lum's mother herded them all into the vehicle and took off towards the landing site of the _Minokichi._ As they neared the ship, the damaged side rolled into view.

Lum gasped as she saw for the first time the gaping holes pierced into the side of the hull. Entire levels had been laid open by the shots that had ravaged the Neptunian vessel. Any lesser ship would have likely have been torn apart by the barrage, but the towering structure was still holding strong.

They arrived at the main hatches and found themselves entering a virtual hell. Injured Neptunians, both humanoid and animal, filled the makeshift cots that were being carried out in a steady stream. Those not seriously injured were being herded in a chaotic crowd away from the ship, trying to clear the way for those less able.

Dozens of Oni, many in the orange tiger striped jumpsuits that seemed to signify they were military, swarmed all over the ship, searching for survivors stranded amongst the damaged sectors. Many were successful, returning with one or two Neptunians at a time. However just as many emerged with grim faces and empty arms.

In the midst of the crowd a lone figure stood untouched by the chaos swirling around her. Oyuki was already calmly engaged in directing both the Oni rescuers and the able Neptunians in retrieving the injured from the ship. The only thing that betrayed her state of mind was the fact that the closer one approached, the closer to freezing the temperature of the air was.

Lum's mother stopped the vehicle and gave them a reassuring look before she flew off, eager to start helping those needing medical assistance. A middle aged Oni man approached them hesitantly, bowing politely to Lum.

"Greetings, Lum-sama," he greeted her formally in Japanese. To Ataru's surprise, he received the same courtesy. "Ataru-sama."

Ataru looked at the man nervously, not used to being deferred to.

"If you could please come with me, we could use some distributing supplies," the oni asked hesitantly. He pointed off to a convoy of heavily laden vehicles that were approaching. "I hate to ask this our princess and her consort, but we are terribly shorthanded."

Ataru's eyebrows shot up. Now he was a consort? He glanced at Lum and saw that she didn't seem bothered by the formality. He supposed she must be used to it here.

"Of course," Lum replied quickly. "We'll do whatever we can."

* * *

Hours later, a vehicle driven by the same oni arrived to take them back to their ships. Ran, leaving them to visit her own family, took off first. The driver helped Lum get the Moroboshis inside of her ship, then left them, heading swiftly back towards the spaceport.

Ataru stretched out lazily on a couch, worn out from unloading a seemingly endless number of trucks carrying supplies for the new refugees. Lum slumped down practically on top of him, exhausted as well. His parents sat down nearby on the other couch, quietly discussing their experiences.

"I'm beat," Ataru proclaimed quietly. "I don't think I've ever done that much lifting."

"You did really well, Darling," Lum praised him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She felt guilty that he and his father had done so much heavy lifting while the rest of them had merely opened the cases and distributed the contents to the Neptunians. Still it had been tiring work, especially after the stressful trip from Earth.

He glanced at her sadly. "I feel like it wasn't enough," he replied. "Those people don't have anywhere to go, and here we are relaxing in comfort." He glared towards the floor. "It's all just so senseless."

"We're doing all we can," Lum responded. "Those people have food and water and somewhere to sleep, at least. And the injured are safe and getting good treatment too." She put her arm around him. "There's only so much Oniboshi could prepare for them on this short of notice."

"I know that," Ataru responded dejectedly. "But it really doesn't make me feel any better about it."

"I know how you feel, Darling," she replied softly. "Oyuki's people have always been so kind to me when I visited. It breaks my heart to see them like this."

Ataru continued staring at the floor, his hands curled into tight fists. "I just don't understand why it had to come to this," he finally said.

"I don't know," Lum replied. "I never thought anything like this could happen." She leaned against him. "I just keep wishing this was all a bad dream."

Ataru was quiet for a few minutes. "What should we do now?" he eventually asked.

"Mom will probably stay here and help out all night," Lum thought aloud. "Ten's parents probably will too." Having a thought, she heaved herself up and went over to the communications console. Calling up her parent's house, she hoped Ten was there and would answer.

A few minutes later the sleepy eyed child finally picked up.

"Lum-chan!" Ten exclaimed upon seeing who it was. "I was really worried."

"Hi, Ten-chan!" Lum replied, trying to sound cheerful. "Did you parents say if they were coming home tonight?"

"I haven't heard from them since this afternoon," Ten replied sadly. "Auntie and Uncle have been gone all day too." He suddenly looked scared. "I've been watching the news, Lum-chan, is Uru really our enemy now?"

Lum frowned. The boy was precocious, but it still seemed wrong to leave him alone at a time like this. "Hey, Ten, I'm going to head over there now. Could you make sure one of the guestrooms is ready? Darling's parents could use somewhere to rest."

Ten nodded. "Auntie made sure both of the guest rooms were ready before she left," he confirmed.

"Alright," Lum said, glad her mother had thought ahead. "I'll be there in a few minutes, so I'll see you then."

Ten yawned. "Ok, Lum-chan," he sleekly replied as he hung up.

Lum went to the controls and called back to the others, "We're going to my parents' house tonight, Ten-chan's there all by himself. Mother, Father, there's a room there you can use." She paused for a moment while she got the ship airborne. "My mom will probably be home late," she told them, "but I'll see if I can make us something to eat when we get there."

Ataru almost grimaced out of long habit, but managed to smile instead. "Thanks, Lum," he told her sincerely.

* * *

Ten practically tackled his cousin when she came through the door carrying Ataru. She patted his head affectionately and left her husband to entertain the boy while she returned for his parents.

Ataru was surprised that the oni boy appeared happy to see him as well.

"Hey Jariten," he greeted his long time antagonist. "It's been a few weeks since I've seen you."

"I've been a good boy!" Ten responded. "I finally got to spend some time with Mom and Dad back on Uru." His smile shifted to a frown. "Then this morning Uncle called and we had to pack up and rush over here."

Ataru nodded. Invader must have made sure they were safe before refusing his orders. Unfortunately it would have been impossible to do the same for the entire Neptunian populace on such short notice.

"Ataru, were you really in a battle?" Ten asked curiously. "I've never seen one before."

"Yeah," Ataru said sadly. "It was pretty scary. A lot of people got hurt too."

Ten listened wide-eyed as Ataru summarized what had happened. War always seemed so fun in movies, but with people he knew involved, it didn't seem like a game anymore.

"I'm sorry you got scared," Ten told him shyly after Ataru had finished.

"It's alright," Ataru replied, ruffling the boy's hair. The brat really wasn't such a bad kid. Ataru had actually somewhat missed having him around while he was offplanet.

Lum, having just returned from showing Ataru's parents their room, watched the two with a smile. She couldn't help but think Darling would be a great father someday. Even if he fought with Jariten a lot, the two obviously got along somehow.

"Ten-chan," she interrupted. "Have you eaten tonight?"

He shook his head no, figuring a few purloined cookies didn't count.

"I'm going to make us all something," she told him. "Could you make sure Darling's parents find everything ok?"

"Ok, Lum-chan," he responded, eager to do something after being cooped up alone all evening.

"Darling," she asked next. "Could you give me a hand in here?"

Ataru looked surprised, having never been asked to help cook before. "Ok," he replied. He walked with her into the kitchen and looked around. It was similar to the one on their ship, just much larger and with several more devices that he couldn't identify.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Lum abruptly swung around and grabbed Ataru tight.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned about her sudden shift in mood.

"I don't really need help cooking," she admitted. "But could you stay in here with me? I don't feel like being alone right now."

"Sure," Ataru agreed. He leaned up against a nearby cabinet, trying to stay out of her way as she swiftly gathered up what she needed for dinner.

She smiled as she worked. "It helps to keep busy at times like this, you know?"

Ataru nodded. "Yeah, it's hard to dwell on your own problems when you've got something to do." He paused for a moment. "I still wish I could help out more down at the port."

"We'll see what we can do tomorrow," Lum told him. "You need to rest tonight, you're barely standing right now." She looked guilty, realizing it was her fault he wasn't resting in the other room. "If you need to go sit down, I won't mind."

He looked down and shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine." It was nice just getting to spend some time alone with her after the hectic day they'd had. After a few minutes a new worry suddenly popped into his mind. "Lum, do you think Benten's people are ok?" he asked out of the blue.

"Yeah, they have really tough ships," she responded, not looking up from her work. "Oyuki also told me they were going to withdraw as soon as we were clear."

"You spoke with Oyuki again?" he asked. Ever since they had jumped Oyuki had been too busy to talk, leaving all communications up to her officers while she tried to help out in other parts of her ship. Upon landing she had been even busier and he had only seen her from afar once or twice.

"Yeah," Lum said. "She came by for a second while you were unloading something." She paused for a moment. "I forgot to tell you, she wanted me to thank you for all the help."

Ataru frowned. "If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have had any protection," he pointed out. "They took the hits meant for us."

"You shouldn't think about it that way," Lum softly scolded him. "Uru wasn't just after us, they had orders to go after Neptune as well."

"I still feel guilty that they lost so much," Ataru insisted.

"That's just how things work out sometimes," Lum replied sadly. "All we can do now is help them as best we can. We're all in this together now."

Ataru found the thought surprisingly comforting. Things were bad, but so many people, even Ran, had banded together to help them out.

* * *

Invader stopped his worried pacing and stared out one of the bridge windows at the planet Oniboshi far below. He'd not stepped foot on the surface since the night before, having been called up early that morning. Things had only gotten worse from there.

He wondered how his wife was holding up. Most likely she was still keeping herself busy helping the Neptunians. A busy woman by nature, she would work all night if not forced to rest.

Even though she was firmly opposed to Uru's policies, it was still her homeworld that they were up against. She had also spent most of the day frantic with worry as first her sister's family and then their daughter and son-in-law's family had narrowly escaped the Urusein forces. He imagined she must be about ready to drop by this point.

He sighed as he wondered if relations between the two planets would ever be on friendly terms again. This was the first time the Oni race had seen conflict amongst themselves since the early days when the various tribes on Uru had united. It wasn't something he had ever wished for, but he knew there was no way he could go back on his word to the governments of Earth.

Invader started pacing once again as he remembered back to the predawn call to ready his ships in preparation for an invasion. When he had been informed that the target was Earth, he had been stunned. But his most adamant protests had fallen on deaf ears. The Grand Warlord on Uru had been firm that no matter what was promised before, Earth was too important to let go.

At last, as the hours wore on and he had gotten nowhere, Invader had in disgust resigned his post as a High Warlord. It was an unheard of action and hadn't gone over well with the Urusein High Council. They had ordered his arrest for treason within the hour.

Oniboshi's governor, a close friend since childhood, wouldn't even consider handing over the man who had long led the entire planet's armed forces. In the end the High Council had declared Oniboshi in a state of rebellion and directly ordered the Third Fleet to arrest a long list of traitors to the state. The list had included not only Invader and the Governor's families, but also most of Oniboshi's local government.

That had been the final straw. Almost the entire fleet had been born and raised on Oniboshi, and not a single ship made any attempt to follow the High Council's command. They had served under Invader's family for four generations now, and their loyalty was unofficially to him first, the Urusein government second.

When a declaration of independence for Oniboshi was quickly drafted and issued to the High Council, Uru had declared open war on not only Oniboshi, but also their close allies Fukujin and Neptune.

Fukujin, with its strong navy, was in no immediate danger. However Neptune heavily relied on a treaty with Oniboshi for protection. Knowing there was no way they could also protect the icy planet, Invader had regretfully recommended that Oyuki abandon their settlement and seek refuge on Oniboshi. It was a hard decision, but in the end she had agreed.

Invader had been able to warn Ten's parents before he had made his decision to resign, and they had been well on their way by the time their arrests were ordered. The hours long futile attempts to get in contact with his daughter and the Moroboshis had been trying, but with so much going on he had been forced to leave their safety in Ran and Oyuki's hands. He counted it no less than a miracle that they had all come through unscathed.

Still the casualties from the first battle of the war weighed heavily on him. The loss of three ace pilots had been demoralizing, but the high number of civilian causalities was heartbreaking. He'd wanted to send a much more formidable escort, but leaving Oniboshi any less defended could have easily been a deadly choice. The other Oni fleets were undoubtedly keeping a close eye on every move his forces made.

One of the nearby consoles beeped, providing a welcome distraction for the stressed out warlord.

He answered it himself, the bridge having been mostly emptied to give the crew time to rest.

The Oniboshi governor was on the line. "Hello, Invader-san," his friend greeted him.

Invader smiled. "Kakari-san, how are things going down there?"

"Hectic," the governor replied. "We're still trying to negotiate with the High Council, but we're not getting anywhere." He sighed. "Any reports on their movements?"

Invader shook his head glumly. "Best we can tell, they're still just watching us," he replied. "The battle group that attacked the Neptunians withdrew after the Fukujin forces arrived, and they haven't returned to Earth's system yet."

"What do you think they're up to?" Kakari asked. Until today he had been a simple administrator; now he found himself relying heavily on Invader's advice in his unfamiliar leadership role.

"They were relying on us to carry out the invasion," Invader replied. "Now they've got to reform and make sure they can handle keeping us contained and putting together a new invasion force." He paused for a moment. "We still don't know what they have in store for Earth. A lot will depend on if they consider us or Earth their biggest priority."

The governor nodded. "What about Fukujin's forces?" he asked next, having left the details of that alliance up to his experienced friend.

"They won't be able to give us too much support," Invader answered sadly. "They're in the same situation we are, just enough ships to defend their planet from anything short of a major attack. They can't afford to spread their forces too thin."

"Alright," the governor responded. "I guess we're pretty well on our own then. Let me know if anything changes."

"I will," Invader promised, closing the connection. He grimaced for a moment, hoping the governor would be able to get his act together soon. The man was great at keeping Oniboshi running smoothly, but when it came to foreign relations, he wasn't experienced in the least.

* * *

Ataru laid awake and staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Exhaustion nagged at him, but actual sleep evaded him still. Images of their friends back on earth, the battle earlier, and the masses of Neptunian refugees fought for dominance in his thoughts.

He turned his head a bit and looked into Lum's face, just inches from his own. She had fallen asleep much more quickly, but didn't appear very peaceful. She grimaced from time to time, perhaps reliving the nightmares of the day herself. He carefully swept back a lock of hair from her eyes, making sure not to wake her.

Her grip on him hadn't lessened any since she had went to sleep. One of his legs was tightly locked between her own, and she had managed to get a good grip around his arm as well. He felt her warm body pressed close to him, and though it was hot in the room he didn't attempt to extract himself. Her warmth was comforting, a tangible reminder that she was still safely beside him.

Eventually he heard noise outside the door, two women's voices and a man's, all speaking softly in the Oni language. He recognized the women's voices as Lum's mother and her sister and assumed the man had to be Ten's father. Ataru briefly wondered what the oni was like, having never met him before.

After a few minutes the voices died down; presumably they were heading for beds of their own. As the silence stretched on, Ataru let out a quiet sigh. It didn't seem like he was ever going to be able to fall asleep. As if in response to his frustration, Lum moaned softly and clenched her fingers, her nails digging slightly into his arm.

Ataru glanced back at her and saw she was frowning again. A soft whimper soon emerged from her throat, and he wondered if he should attempt to awaken her from whatever dream was upsetting her. Before he could make a decision her face suddenly calmed and her grip loosened a bit.

He smiled, glad that she appeared to have left whatever bad dream behind her. It was irritating that what should have been their first happy night sleeping together in weeks had turned out this way. Lum had been so excited that morning, and he himself had looked forward to it until things had gone haywire.

Even with their current situation it was great to have her with him again. Ataru started thinking back to their first nights together, when he had been too shy to even willingly cuddle. As he had gradually grown more comfortable sleeping beside her, he'd found himself craving her affectionate embrace more and more. Now, after their forced separation, it felt especially good to have her presence beside him.

His mind focused on happier memories and thoughts, Ataru at last slipped into unconsciousness, exhaustion ensuring that he would have a peaceful slumber.


	21. Crowded Household

Lum stretched lazily as she woke up. She gave her still sleeping husband a loving look, then settled back down beside him. He smiled in his sleep, and she idly wondered what he was dreaming of this time.

Glancing out the window, she saw that it was a rainy morning, just as the ones before had been. Lum sighed, wondering when it was going to clear up. Being cooped up inside so much was beginning to get on her nerves. The Invader household had never been this crowded, and she was seriously thinking about just abandoning her room and taking up full time residence in their nearby UFO. Ten would probably appreciate having a room to himself again as well.

A light knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. Trying not to disturb Darling, Lum carefully rose out of the bed and grabbed her robe from a nearby hook. After slipping it on, she cracked open the door to see who it was.

She was surprised to see her smiling father standing in the hallway. "Dad!" she quietly greeted him while closing the door behind her. "When did you get back?"

"Just a little while ago," he responded, giving her a hug. "Sorry I haven't been able to get down to see you."

"It's ok," she said. "I know you've been busy."

Invader sighed dramatically. "Yeah, things are tough. Kakari's relying on me a lot right now." He stopped and just looked at her for a moment. "You look well," he complimented her. "How have you two been holding up?"

"Pretty well," Lum responded hesitantly. "Darling was pretty out of it for a few days, but he's mostly back to normal now. I think doing all that volunteer work for Oyuki's people has helped."

"I'm glad to hear that," Invader replied. "He's a good man."

"I know," she said with a sad smile. "His parents seem to be doing ok too."

"They're a tough lot," Invader agreed. "Come on," he told her, heading for the main room. "We can talk over breakfast."

Her mother peeked out of the kitchen as they passed. "_Good morning, Lum_," she called out quietly, not wanting to wake all their guests. "_Is Ataru still sleeping_?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to wake him," Lum replied. Her mother winked mischievously and disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving Lum wondering what she was thinking.

Invader settled down and motioned for Lum to sit down. She joined him and he leaned back with a yawn.

"Sorry, I've not been getting enough sleep," he apologized. "I'm not used to this kind of schedule."

"I'm surprised you got to take a break," Lum responded.

He waved his hand dismissively. "Kakari couldn't really say no," he informed her. "And my men have things covered up there for the moment," he said, vaguely pointing towards the fleet orbiting the planet.

"Any news on Earth?" Lum asked eagerly.

"Nothing," Invader said with a grimace. "Best we can tell Uru still hasn't made another move in that system." He scratched his head. "I don't get it. They were originally pushing for immediate mobilization."

"You think they're stretched too thin?" Lum asked hopefully.

"No," Invader replied firmly. "They know we can't do much more than defend this system. All they need to do is keep enough ships nearby to keep us pinned in and they'll have plenty of force left to take care of Earth."

Lum frowned. "How about our allies?" she asked.

"Uru's not bothering Fukujin," Invader replied. "I've not been having any luck getting support from anyone else. They're just sitting back because they don't want to get involved in a civil war."

He frowned and continued. "I've been having trouble getting any information from our people on Uru, but I think something big's in the works. There's been a lot of turnover in the upper ranks this week."

"No idea what's going on?" Lum asked.

"They've replaced most of the people I was able to get news from already," he explained. "We're relying on low level sources at this point."

She nodded sadly. "It's really frustrating not knowing what they're planning."

Invader ruffled her head gently. "Enough of this depressing talk," he told her. "I want to hear about things around here."

* * *

Ataru woke up feeling groggy. "Lum?" he murmured, not feeling her beside him. He turned and found that she was already gone, likely off helping her mother make breakfast. He sighed and levered himself out of bed, stretching his tired muscles.

It was raining again. Ataru glared out the window, thoroughly sick of the bad weather. Lum kept assuring him that Oniboshi was sunny most of the year, so he figured it was just his usual luck that it had rained for most of the two weeks they had been there. Luckily they had secured good shelters for all of the Neptunian refugees before the cycle of storms had started.

Catching the faint smell of cooking food, he ventured forth from their

room. The familiar rumble of Invader's voice reached him as soon as he stepped out, and he wondered when his father-in-law had returned.

"Good morning," he called out as he stepped into the main room. Five pairs of eyes met him, and he was assaulted with a range of greetings. Ataru smiled and seated himself quietly down in a spot Lum had saved for him.

"So, you're finally up?" Hinoban asked teasingly. Ataru grinned in embarrassment. Ten's father was only a few years older than Ataru and tended to treat him like a younger brother, constantly giving him a good-natured hard time.

"I had a hard day yesterday," Ataru protested while looking away.

"I hear you've been volunteering a lot down at the spaceport," Invader commented. "I'm proud of you."

Ataru rubbed the back of his neck. "It's the least I could do," he said quietly. Lum took his hand under the table and squeezed it gently.

His father looked up from the newspaper he was reading. "Ataru, we're all really proud of how much you're doing." His paper rose back up, the shy man having said his piece. Luckily Oniboshi printed their newspapers in both Oni and Japanese, so he had still had plenty of reading material even this far from home.

Ten didn't say anything, staying in his best good boy mode. Ataru wondered how long the boy would last at trying to be perpetually polite. He figured it wasn't Ten's easy-going father but his intense mother that had the boy so wired.

The noise emanating from the kitchen made it clear where the other three women of the house were. With Ten's mother Tsuukai being the only one of the three who spoke both Oni and Japanese, she was constantly the interpreter between Lum and Ataru's mothers when they got busy making breakfast for the large group. Mrs. Moroboshi always insisted on helping around the house, having accustomed herself to their new home rather quickly.

A few minutes later breakfast arrived, the three ladies quickly ferrying out a small convoy of dishes to the table before settling down themselves. Ataru dug in, enjoying the meal immensely.

* * *

After breakfast Invader told abruptly grabbed hold of Ataru's father and led him into another room, telling everyone they would be back in a moment. The group looked after the two curiously, but left them alone.

"Ok," Invader said once they were alone, "now we can discuss matters in private like men should."

Ataru's father, still nervously clutching his newspaper, smiled weakly, not sure what was going on.

"Here's the thing," Invader started. "I can't say how long your family will be stuck here. To be completely honest, I can't guarantee right now that you'll ever be safe on Earth again."

"But-" Mr. Moroboshi started to object, but Invader cut him off.

"I just don't know enough about the situation," Invader growled. "We're not in a good place right now, and I can't promise anything."

Mr. Moroboshi looked down. "So that's how it is, is it?" he softly replied.

"I'm afraid so," Invader said, putting a reassuring hand on the much smaller man's shoulder. "I know you've been helping down at the spaceport too, but that's a bit of a waste for a man of your talents, isn't it? Weren't you in a financial management position back on earth?"

"Yeah," Moroboshi replied. "But by now my job there will be gone anyways. There's no way they'd overlook this, too many people were trying for my position."

Invader turned away and crossed his arms behind his back. "Do you remember when we tried to get our children hitched?" he asked tentatively. "I told you then I could get you a job afterwards if you ever wanted it." He turned back to Mr. Moroboshi. "Well, our children may not be officially wed yet, but my offer still stands."

"Is that so?" Mr. Moroboshi said hopefully.

"Governor Kakari has found himself in a difficult position," Invader continued. "He was basically middle management between Uru and this planet until this all started. Now he's struggling to keep things together." Invader looked Moroboshi in the eyes. "Several posts have opened up due to this. He could really use a good man like you, someone with real experience with budgets and planning."

"I really don't know if I'm qualified for such an important role," Moroboshi stammered out.

Invader narrowed his eyes. "Have some confidence in yourself," he said firmly. "Besides, things are desperate right now, and he's extremely short handed. This is something you could do that would really help a lot of people right now." He paused for a long moment. "I'm not going to force you into this, but it's a good opportunity."

Ataru's father looked down for a few seconds. "I'll do it," he decided. "I can't go on depending on you to support my family anyways,"

"Don't be silly," Invader replied. "It's my responsibility that you're all in this mess. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need. Besides, you're family."

Mr. Moroboshi smiled. "Thank you, Invader-san. I really appreciate this chance."

Invader looked embarrassed. "Just do your best," he finally replied. His face suddenly lit up. "Why don't we go get a drink somewhere?" he suggested. "I know this perfect little place downtown…"

* * *

Ten's mother rubbed her son's head absentmindedly as she sat chatting with Lum. The nervous boy's eyes were wide, but he kept perfectly still in her lap. Ataru held back his laughter, wondering if the kid would ever learn to relax around his mother.

Finally Ataru took pity on the kid. "Hey, Jariten, do you want to go watch some TV with me?"

Ten's eyes lit up. "Ma'am, may I?" he asked hesitantly.

"Sure, Ten," Tsuukai replied kindly, patting him on the head. His mother put him down and gave him a warm smile.

Ten bowed slightly and scampered off after Ataru into the other room.

"Ten's such a polite boy," his mother said happily. "You two have been a really good influence on him."

Lum looked nervous but smiled. "Ten-chan is a good boy," she agreed. "I think he's really happy you're able to spend more time with him lately."

"You think so?" Tsuukai asked earnestly. "I get the feeling I make him nervous sometimes."

"I don't know why you'd think that," Lum smoothly lied. "He missed you a lot when we were back on Earth."

"Is that right?" his mother replied thoughtfully. "I really hate that our jobs have kept us so busy these past few years."

"Well, things should be a lot less hectic here on Oniboshi," Lum reminded her aunt. "So now you can spend all the time you want with Ten-chan."

"That's true," Tsuukai replied thoughtfully. "But I kind of miss all the excitement of the big city too." She looked away. "I'm not a very good mommy, am I?"

Lum's mother rapped Tsuukai on the head as she passed by carrying a load of laundry. "_Don't say that_," she admonished her younger sister. "_You're a good mom. You're just going to have to calm down a bit in life_. _Ten-chan's not going to stay be a little kid forever and you don't want to miss it_."

Lum looked up innocently. "Do you ever wish I was still a little girl?" she asked.

Her mother looked thoughtful for a moment, then wrinkled her nose in disdain. "_Not really. You were too much of a handful_," she replied. "_I'm glad you grew out of that phase_."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lum asked with an annoyed look.

"I'm sorry, but y_ou were a little nut, Lum. Always in trouble at school, getting Ran in trouble, even bothering animals_," her mother pointed out. "_I've never seen a bigger tomboy in my life_."

Lum huffed and looked away with an angry expression while her aunt burst out laughing. Her mother smiled and patted her playfully on the head.

"_Oh, don't be like that_," she said. "_I'm just teasing you. You were an adorable little girl, even if you did drive me crazy half the time. I'm really glad you turned into such a fine young woman_."

Lum looked at her with a wary expression. "You mean it?"

"_Of course I do, Love_," her mother replied, giving her a kiss before returning to her chores.

"See, she's a good mom," Tsuukai commented after her older sister had left. "She always was better at this domestic stuff than me."

Lum waved her hand dismissively. "You'll get the hang of it," she said confidently. "If an apparent brat like me can handle Ten-chan, you shouldn't have any trouble," she joked.

"Speaking of that," her aunt said with a serious expression, "When are you going to give me a cute little niece or nephew to spoil? I was still too young to when you were a kid."

Lum blushed. "I'm only seventeen!" she protested. "We aren't ready for that kind of thing at all." She paused for a moment. "We aren't even legally married yet," she finished quietly.

"You're almost as old as your mom was when she had you," Tsuukai teased. "Maybe I should ask your husband what he thinks."

Lum gave her a look. "Don't you dare," she warned. "Poor Darling's got enough on his mind right now."

* * *

"Hey, Jariten," Ataru idly said, half watching one of the rare Japanese language news channels. "You really shouldn't be so nervous around your mom."

"You don't know how she really is," Ten quietly protested. "If she knew all that I've done, she'd kill me."

"You're her kid," Ataru reassured him. "She isn't going to do anything to you."

"I love Mama, and I know she loves me," Ten replied. "But she's still really scary."

"You'll just have to get over it," Ataru answered. "You can't keep fearing her forever." He turned to Ten and ruffled his hair. "You have to grow up someday, runt."

"Hey, don't treat me like a little kid!" Ten protested. "I'm more grown up than you are."

Ataru chuckled. "Dream on," he replied, turning his attention back to the TV.

Ten puffed up, but remembering his mother in the other room didn't flame Ataru.

"You're mean," Ten finally pouted, a few wisps of smoke trailing from his mouth.

"I know," Ataru replied without looking. "It's merely one of my many wonderful qualities."

Ten settled down grumpily next to Ataru. "When did you start watching the news?" he asked. "I didn't think you were smart enough to understand it."

The comment earned a glare from Ataru. "Watch your mouth, Jariten," he growled before turning back to the screen.

"What are you going to do about it?" Ten taunted. It seemed like all his pent up energy from being good all the time was pouring forth. "If you try to hit me, I'll tell on you."

"I can just ignore you," Ataru replied calmly, not taking his eyes off the screen. "You wouldn't dare try to burn me with your mom nearby, and there's not much else you can really do to me."

Ten considered this for a moment. Getting an idea, he floated deliberately in front of Ataru's face, blocking the screen.

"Hah, ignore me now, idiot!" Ten crowed.

"Ten, are you bothering Ataru?" his mother asked warningly from the other room.

Ten covered his mouth and looked scared; he had forgotten to keep his voice down.

"Nah," Ataru called out. "We're just playing around."

"Oh, ok," Tsuukai replied.

Ten looked at Ataru in surprise as he floated out of the way. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"Eh," Ataru replied noncommittally.

Ten settled down next to him again and was quiet for a few minutes. "I'm bored," he finally said.

"Same here," Ataru replied. "They told me they didn't have anything for me to do down at the spaceport for the next few days. And it's too wet to go out." He was quiet for a few moments, counting the days. "Today would have been our second day of the senior year," he commented sadly. "Never thought I'd be missing school."

Ten looked thoughtful. "How do you think everyone's doing?"

"Dunno," Ataru replied. "It's not like I can just call them up and ask." He sighed. "I guess they're all in class right now. I wonder if it's quiet without Lum and me there."

"Probably," Ten commented. "You were always in trouble."

"Half the time it was because you were floating around disturbing class," Ataru reminded him.

"I'm a good boy," Ten protested.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Ataru replied without much confidence.

* * *

Invader threw an arm around Mr. Moroboshi. "You're all right, you know that?"

"Don't crush the poor guy," his brother-in-law joked.

Invader let up on his drunken companion. "Eh, he's tougher than that."

Ataru's father looked up with tears in his eyes. "You're a real pal, you know?"

Invader chuckled and slapped him on the back. He turned back to their other companion. "Hinoban, why don't you grab the next round?" he suggested.

Ten's father looked annoyed. "I already got the last one, it's your turn." His speech was slurring more and more as time went on.

"Eh," Invader said, raising his hand to grab the bartender's attention. "Another round, if you please!"

Hinoban burst out laughing. "I actually can't remember who got the last round," he admitted.

Invader shrugged, not really caring. "I can't either." He glared down at Moroboshi. "Drink up," he urged. "You'll be knee deep in work soon."

"I can hardly wait," Mr. Moroboshi replied, taking another swig.

* * *

Ataru suddenly found his vision blocked by a pair of hands.

"Guess who," a female voice told him.

"Tsuukai?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"Try again," the voice growled.

He pretended to think for a moment. "Little Ran-chan?"

"Darling!" the voice warned him.

"Ah, then it must be Lum-chan," Ataru deducted.

She uncovered his eyes. "You're terrible," she pouted.

"I know," he sighed. "It's a curse."

Lum looked at Ten, who was sprawled out unconscious next to her husband. "What happened to him?" she asked.

"Just sleepy," Ataru replied, still watching TV. "I don't even have a frying pan handy."

"It is a boring day," Lum said glumly. "I wish it would stop raining."

She lay down on Ataru's other side, wrapping her arm around his. "Is there anything you want to do?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he sighed. "I'm really bored with the news at this point."

Lum pulled on his arm. "Come on then," she said, rising back into the air, Ataru in tow. "Let's go hang out in my room."

He looked annoyed, but followed her back. She shut and locked the door behind him, then floated over to her bed.

"Sit," she commanded after he didn't budge from his spot near the door.

Ataru gave her a wary look, but complied.

"That's better," Lum said, snuggling up to his side. "It doesn't seem like we've had much time alone lately."

"That's true," he mused. "This place is a bit more crowded than home."

"That's the understatement of the year," Lum replied dryly. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, actually. How would you feel about staying in the UFO and letting Ten use this room?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, it would give everyone more space," he said. "And that bed is really comfy too."

"And we'd get more privacy," she said pointedly, playing with the sash of her robe.

"See if you can get us some stairs like Ran had and it's a deal," Ataru decided. "I don't want to have to rely on you to come and go."

Lum grinned. "I'll have some delivered tomorrow," she promised. "I'm very glad you said yes." She kept her eyes locked on him, now fidgeting with the neckline of her robe.

Ataru swallowed and looked away, his face slightly red. "Is that right?" he said nervously. She was getting way too practiced at making him flustered lately.

Her breath tickled his ear. "Darling, why are you so embarrassed?" she asked seductively.

"I'm not embarrassed," he insisted.

"Then why won't you look at me?" she teased.

Ataru gave her a quick glance. Her face was only inches away from his own, and he felt like he could drown in her deep blue eyes. She fluttered her eyes softly and he had to look away again.

"Darling's so shy," she teased him.

"I am not," he said irritably.

"Then give me a kiss," she said, closing her eyes and pursing her lips.

He gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"What was that?" she asked incredulously.

"A kiss," he replied casually.

"Not much of one," she said, sounding disappointed.

"Is that so?" Ataru replied, his voice suddenly smooth. "Well, let's remedy that." He put his hand behind her head and pulled her in for a much longer and more passionate kiss.

They finally parted, both breathing heavy. "That was much better," Lum agreed. She looked coy for a moment, then giggled and tackled him.

* * *

Lum's mother, her hand raised to knock on her daughter's door, perked her pointed ears and listened for a moment. Smiling, she lowered her hand and went on her way, deciding that delivering their laundry could wait for a more convenient time.

Tsuukai looked up from the living room floor, where she was playfully poking at her sleeping son. "What are you smiling about?" she asked her elder sister.

"_Young love_," Mrs. Invader replied simply, ignoring her sister's puzzled look.


	22. Chilling Negotiations

Invader read through the latest reports and groaned. It had been well over a month now, and Uru still hadn't made a single move towards Earth. The unexplainable delay was starting to drive him crazy.

"Perhaps they've just reconsidered, boss" his aide, Lieutenant Commander Jirettai, suggested for the tenth time that week.

"No," the Oni warlord disagreed, "they wouldn't just drop the invasion after being so stubborn about it." He stared off into space. "They're definitely up to something."

Invader put aside the intelligence reports and turned to his subordinate. "How is construction at the new shipyard going?"

Jirettai glanced away. "Not as well as it could be," he admitted. "We're just too short on labor."

His boss nodded. "If we could just break this damned blockade, we could get some help from Fukujin. They know shipbuilding better than anyone."

Invader paused for a long moment. "Have we managed to reestablish contact with Earth's satellite network yet?"

"We're still being jammed," his aide replied. "We've got our best men working on a way to relay a signal through, but Uru's got a lot more people skilled in this sort of thing."

"Damn it!" Invader swore, slamming his fist down on the desk. "They've got us every way we turn."

"Boss, perhaps we should go for a preemptive strike," Jirettai suggested. "If we could wipe out that blockade, it would help us on a lot of levels."

"Uru's still got three fleets standing by," Invader said, dismissing the idea. "If we get drawn in and they throw everything they have at us, we won't stand a chance." He paused for a moment. "I've been half hoping they would go ahead and launch the Earth invasion. That might distract one of the fleets long enough that we could break through."

Jirettai nodded. "You're assuming Fukujin will help occupy the rest?" he asked tentatively.

"Yeah," Invader replied. "They'll help as long as their system isn't at risk. If they can engage the enemy at a safe distance and hold their own, we'll only have to face a single fleet at a time."

He stared down at the planet far below. "We could really use a boost in the number of our interceptors though," he said quietly. "Not to mention more pilots." The draft they had instated had swelled the fleet's ranks a bit, but Oniboshi didn't have a bit enough civilian population for it to make a big difference. Even with a large percentage of the planet's women helping out, there was a shortage of workers as well.

* * *

"No," Ataru replied firmly. "I refuse."

"But, Darling," Lum pleaded. "They could use every hand they can get."

"I won't do it," Ataru said irritably. "You know I don't like fighting."

"You wouldn't be fighting," Lum protested. "No one's asking that of you. You'd just be helping to assemble parts. And it wouldn't be anything complicated, just basically tightening bolts."

He turned away. "Parts of fighters," he replied. "I'm sorry, Lum, I just can't stand the idea of building things that are just going to be used to kill people."

Lum turned away from him, clenching her fists. "You know, Earth and Oniboshi are both going to be depending on those interceptors."

Ataru sighed. "I know," he replied. "You really think I don't understand that?" He wearily sank down on a couch. "It's just too much to ask, Lum." He closed his eyes, hoping this argument was over.

"You're pretty damned selfish," Lum stated coldly, dashing his hopes.

"You know, I hated even asking you," she continued angrily. "I know you despise this stuff. If you think I don't know exactly how you feel, then you're sadly mistaken." She sat down heavily on the other end of the couch, refusing to look at him.

"I feel the same way, Darling," she said more quietly. "I hate the thought of making weapons." She paused, trying not to lose her temper but failing. "Do you think anyone here enjoys this?" she demanded.

Ataru stared stubbornly at the floor and didn't answer.

"Fine," she said after a moment, her voice now icy. "I'm not going to mention it again." She paused. "I'm sorry I even brought it up."

He finally looked up at her, a miserable expression on his face. "I-" he started, but couldn't finish his sentence.

She glanced at him irritably, her anger swiftly draining away as she saw the look on his face. "Darling?" she asked softly, afraid she had pushed him too far.

"I need to get out of here," he said abruptly, heading for the door. He swiftly popped the hatch and took the stairs down two at a time.

Lum stared at the open door in shock for a moment before racing after him. Unfortunately he had a good head start and years of practice eluding her. By the time she had cleared the door he was already disappearing into the lush forest.

"Darling?" she called out, but got no response. She sat down heavily on the stairs and stared in the direction he had disappeared in. "I told you not to run away like that, you idiot," she said softly. "You didn't used to do this to me."

* * *

A few hours later found Lum still sitting on the top of the stairs, lightly dozing against the rail. The sound of footsteps on the bottom steps quickly roused her.

"Darling?" she called out into the darkness.

Oyuki stepped into the light spilling from the open door, looking as serene as ever. "Lum, what are you doing out here?" she asked gently. "Your mother called looking for you. I thought I would come make sure you were ok."

Lum looked around, realizing how late it had gotten. "Darling ran off," she admitted hesitantly. "I've been waiting for him to come home."

Oyuki settled down lightly beside her. "Why did he leave?" she asked curiously.

"I was trying to convince him to help out down at the military shipyards," Lum said, staring intently into the darkness. She wondered if he was pulling the same trick as last time and hiding nearby.

"Ah," Oyuki replied. "I see." She looked at Lum critically. "Why were you doing that?"

Lum looked taken aback. "You know how shorthanded everyone is," she protested. "I'm considering signing up to help out and I really thought he should too."

"Ataru does not seem to care for that sort of thing," Oyuki observed. "You should know that better than anyone."

"We're building these things to save his planet," Lum protested. "I know how he feels, and I don't like it either, but I'll do what needs to be done. I don't see why he refuses to understand that."

Oyuki sighed.

Lum glanced at her friend in surprise. Oyuki wasn't prone to outward signs of her emotions like that.

"Lum, you are wrong," Oyuki said calmly. "You do not understand how he feels at all."

Lum glared at her friend. "What did you say?" she growled.

Oyuki turned her chilling gaze upon her friend. "You grew up the daughter of a warlord. Your race thinks it is perfectly fair to invade other planets, as long as you force a game on them first. A game your people usually have a distinct advantage at." Oyuki looked away. "I know you do not like fighting, but you have to understand, people like Ataru are from a totally different way of life than yours. It is not a simple dislike that he holds for warfare."

Lum was flabbergasted. "But it's to save Earth," she finally said. "It's not like we are doing this to invade anyone."

"And if Earth had not won the tag match in the first place, your father would have taken over in a heartbeat," Oyuki reminded her. "And there is not a single word that you would have said against it."

Lum looked down, wanting to deny the accusation but unable to.

"I apologize for phrasing it that way," Oyuki said, "but you need to understand that everyone does not think the way your race does." She was silent for a few minutes, pondering what she should say to make her point clear. "Let me tell you a story, Lum."

"My people are primarily merchants," Oyuki began. "That is what we have always been." She hesitated for a second before continuing. "My mother and father were strictly against violence in any form. They refused to deal in weapons, and they would not hear of arming our settlement either. They thought they could counter any threat with negotiations and diplomacy."

Lum looked up, having never heard this tale before.

Oyuki looked up into the sky. "In the end they made an enemy that they could not subdue through those means. That was when they forged a protection treaty with Oniboshi. They convinced themselves that as long as we were not doing the fighting ourselves, they could keep hold on to their lofty morals."

Oyuki's expression grew even more frigid. "Oniboshi did protect Neptune from outward attack, but they were not able to keep my parents from being assassinated by an enemy spy," she continued. "We had no guards, and they refused offers from your people to station any. They did not want your violent soldiers anywhere near our supposedly peaceful palace."

"I never knew," Lum replied sadly. "I'm really sorry, Oyuki-chan."

"I killed the assassin myself," Oyuki continued calmly. "I was only four years old, but I was able to control my ice powers well enough to defend myself." She looked Lum in the eyes. "I was taught as a child that violence was never the correct action, but it is the only reason that I did not perish as well that night."

"That's awful," Lum said, beginning to tear up.

"I am not finished," Oyuki interjected. "On the first day that I was recognized as queen, I decreed that we build up a small Neptunian force to protect our colony from such a thing ever happening again. A good number of my people were unhappy with this decision, and a few even left. I did not try to stop them, because I completely understand how they felt. But to make sure my people were safe I had to somewhat set aside the teachings of my parents. It is something that I have always had to live with."

She looked away again. "Do you understand what I am trying to say, Lum?"

"That I shouldn't have tried to force Darling into this." Lum responded quietly. "I knew he wouldn't be happy doing it, but it's a necessary evil."

"Ataru holds strong convictions," Oyuki replied. "He is not above violence, but he draws a line very clearly. As you have told me before, he will fight hard for what is important to him, but he never seems to hold a grudge against those who have wronged him. In fact, did he not still consider those he fought against friends?"

Lum nodded, thinking of the many times her husband had clashed with Mendou. Darling was always good-natured after the fact, no matter how dire things had looked.

"Now imagine then that the ones that he is fighting against end up dead. He would not be able to rationalize this simply as the regrettable death of an enemy, would he? Ataru would likely feel just as guilty as if he had killed them for no reason at all."

Lum looked thoughtful for a few minutes. "I really can't make myself think about war that way," she finally said.

"It is not necessary for you to," Oyuki replied softly. "All you need to do is understand that Ataru does."

Lum nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." She stared sadly into the darkness again. "He probably hates me now."

Oyuki chuckled. "I very much doubt that," she said. "I am not sure he has it in him to hate anyone, especially not you."

"I called him selfish for not helping," Lum sniffled. "He probably thinks I'm just a warmongering idiot now."

"You know that is not true," Oyuki said, trying to comfort her friend.

"If it's not, then why hasn't he come home still?" Lum demanded.

"I cannot say for sure," Oyuki replied, "but I would guess that he doesn't know how to express himself very well without losing his temper. He likely fears saying something hurtful to you. Thus he finds it safer to merely distance himself until he is sure things have calmed down."

"That's pretty cowardly," Lum commented bitterly.

"Perhaps," Oyuki agreed. "But it is impressive that he is so unwilling to hurt your feelings."

"I'd rather he just call me names and get it out of his system," Lum complained. "This is just nerve wracking."

Oyuki made a casual gesture and a stream of small green Neptunian snow lemmings poured forth from a portal that suddenly formed.

"Go find Ataru," she firmly told one, presumably their leader. The small creatures raced off in every direction to follow her command.

"Is it safe for them to go out there all by themselves?" Lum asked worriedly.

"They can handle themselves," Oyuki replied with confidence.

* * *

Ataru sat propped up against a tree trunk and stared blankly at the two mismatched moons hanging low in the sky above. It was so hard to get used to this planet. The moons not only wove an erratic path across the night sky, but were often clearly visible during the day as well.

He stretched his arms sleepily and leaned his head back against the tree. The occasional scurrying amongst the bushes was worrying, but he didn't figure there would be anything too dangerous around. He glanced at his watch, wondering when it would be safe to go home again.

Ataru sighed. Maybe he shouldn't bother. He knew Lum was going to be furious at him over both their argument and the way he had just left like that. Maybe he should just keep walking and see where that led him instead.

He knew he really couldn't do that. Staying away even this long was hard enough. Even if she was still mad, Lum was probably getting worried by this point. The thought only added to his growing guilt.

A new wave of scurrying soon passed through the bushes, but he didn't worry too much. Whatever they were, they sounded small.

A small light suddenly darting across the sky caught his eye. No doubt it was one of the many ships in orbit. Ataru glared at the light; the kind of people who were up there were exactly what had caused this whole mess in the first place.

He looked back down at the ground guiltily. It wasn't fair to put the blame on the military in general. It wasn't fair to put it on Lum either. She was just doing what was probably the right thing to do right now. But Ataru found it impossible to ignore the gut feeling that it was still wrong.

He shivered and wondered when it had suddenly gotten so chilly out. The nights on this planet were usually warm, and he wondered if whatever seasons this planet had were starting to change.

A gentle but cold wind swept across the trees and Ataru narrowed his eyes. Sure enough Oyuki soon emerged from the darkness and stood peacefully before him.

"Hey, Oyuki-san," Ataru greeted her with a resigned tone. "Did Lum send you to find me?"

"Not exactly," Oyuki replied, settling down gracefully on the ground in front of him. "She is worried about you, however."

"Is that so?" he asked quietly. "Well, you should probably let her know that I'm ok then." He shut his eyes and hoped Oyuki would get the hint and leave.

The temperature dropped a few degrees, and he opened his eyes hesitantly.

"Why are you hiding way out here?" Oyuki asked in a neutral tone.

"Who's hiding?" Ataru retorted. "I'm just enjoying the nice evening."

"Would it not be more enjoyable back home?" she responded.

"I doubt it," Ataru replied. He knew what awaited him back at the UFO.

"You know, Lum is not angry with you," Oyuki informed him. "We had a bit of a talk, and I do believe she sees things more clearly now."

He looked embarrassed. "She was right all along," he said, looking away. "I guess I am pretty selfish, putting my feelings before what needs to be done."

"We all must decide what path we walk through life," Oyuki replied. "What is right for one person is not always right for another."

"I don't know what is right for me," Ataru replied quietly. "All I know is that I'm always letting Lum down."

"Is that what you think?" Oyuki asked, one of her eyebrows rising ever so slightly.

"Isn't that what everyone thinks?" Ataru asked bitterly, all of his long contained self-doubt bubbling to the surface. "It doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't seem like I'll ever be good enough for her."

"And what makes you say that?" she inquired.

"That's all people said about me back on Earth," he answered quietly. "It didn't use to bother me, but the more I think about it, I realize they were right all along." He gazed up into the sky. "She's great at so many things, and I can't seem to do anything right."

Oyuki calmly gazed at him. "You do realize that the only person who decides if you are good enough for Lum is Lum herself, correct?"

"Lum will say she loves me no matter what," Ataru countered. "She even said she loved me back when I treated her like dirt. I can't really trust her opinion of me."

Oyuki kept her face calm, but was genuinely surprised by his words. She never suspected the confident and cheerful guy he seemed to be had these kinds of thoughts. The conversation hadn't gone in the direction she expected at all, and for once she was at a loss for a reply.

Ataru lapsed into silence as well. After a moment he stood up and looked off into the distance. "I'm sorry to burden you with my troubles," he told her. "Could you please not tell Lum about any of this?"

"I am afraid that will not be possible," Oyuki told him, looking at something behind him. "She appears to have followed me here."

Ataru's eyes widened as he followed her gaze to a dim figure standing nearby. "Lum?" he asked softly.

She stepped forward hesitantly into the moonlight, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Darling, why do you have to be such an idiot?" she demanded abruptly.

He flinched at her harsh tone and turned as if to disappear into the forest again.

Lum crossed the distance in a flash, tackling him to the ground before he could take three steps. "You aren't going anywhere," she told him sternly, holding him tightly around the middle. "I want you to talk to me instead of just running away."

Ataru just stared stubbornly at the ground, not even trying to struggle.

"Oyuki-chan, do you mind?" Lum asked apologetically. "We need to have a little chat here."

Oyuki nodded and quietly left, her slight smile remaining unnoticed.

As soon as she was gone, Lum turned her attention back to her still silent husband. "Now, Darling," she said, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position on his back, "start talking."

Ataru sighed. "About what?" he replied grumpily.

"Whatever you want," Lum told him, her voice surprisingly gentle. "We really don't talk enough, you know."

"We talk all the time," he protested.

"Not enough, Darling," Lum responded. "Not nearly enough, judging from the baloney you were spouting off a minute ago." She felt him tense up underneath her. "You think you aren't good enough for me, is that right?"

Ataru didn't reply.

Lum looked down at him, clearly annoyed. "You really are a pain sometimes."

He finally spoke. "You weren't meant to hear that," he mumbled.

"Of course I wasn't," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You would never tell me, your own wife, how you feel."

"You wouldn't understand," he protested.

"Understand what?" Lum asked him sadly. "You think I don't know what it's like doubting that you are good enough for the one you love? Every time you left me to go chasing some other girl, I felt like that."

Ataru felt a drop of moisture land on the back of his neck.

"Darling, I don't care what anyone else says about you, and I never have," she continued, wiping furiously at her eyes. "I've been certain that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you for a long time now."

"You see, you aren't being objective about it," Ataru muttered.

Lum hesitated. "No, I suppose I'm not," she responded after a few moments. "But that's part of being in love, I think." She reached a hand out tentatively and caressed the side of his face. "I do love you with all my heart, Darling."

"I love you too," Ataru assured her, sounding miserable. "I just don't understand how you can be happy with someone like me."

"Idiot," she replied. "You make me very happy. Just being around you makes me practically giddy." She looked deep into his eyes and continued. "I've told you before why I love you, and that won't ever change, no matter what happens."

She frowned and rose up off his back. Kneeling beside her Darling, she offered him a hand up. "No more running away, ok?"

"So you would rather we get into fights?" Ataru asked, taking her hand.

"I'd rather we not fight at all," Lum said, tapping him playfully on the forehead. "But if we don't talk stuff out, we'll never get anything resolved, right?"

Getting to his feet, Ataru looked away. "I guess you're right," he said. "Sorry."

"I should be the one apologizing," Lum insisted. "I'm sorry I pushed you so hard earlier. Whatever you decide to do, I'll be behind you."

"Thank you," he said sincerely. He took her hand and looked around blankly. "Which way was the UFO?"

Lum looked around wildly. "I'm not sure, Darling," she admitted, slightly panicked.

* * *

Oyuki was sitting calmly on the top step sipping tea when the faint sound of laughter reached her ears. She gazed towards the forest and sure enough the couple soon appeared. They both appeared in much better spirits now, so she assumed they had worked out their little quarrel. The fact that they were holding hands confirmed it.

When they reached the UFO, both looked surprised to see her sitting there. "Please, do not mind me," Oyuki assured them. "I took the liberty of making us some tea." She gestured to the platter sitting beside her.

The two joined her on the steps, enjoying the pleasant evening under the moonlight.

Ataru, sipping his tea, looked up fondly at their Neptunian friend. "Thank you, Oyuki-san," he told her sincerely. "I appreciate you always being there for us."

Lum nodded. "You should come visit more often," she insisted. "It's usually more peaceful than this."

"Perhaps I shall," Oyuki replied. "Now that my people have settled in, I find myself with less worries these days." She paused for a moment. "I want to thank both of you for helping out so much. It was very kind, and I know my people appreciate it."

Ataru looked embarrassed. "It was really the least we could do," he said shyly.

Lum merely smiled. "That's what friends do," she said simply.

Oyuki looked distant for a moment. "Ataru, many Neptunians wish to help out with the current situation, but few are truly comfortable with working on military craft." She gave him a steady look. "I believe you have similar feelings, correct?"

"Yeah," he replied quietly.

"The governor has informed me that there is much work needing to be done on other projects as well," she told him. "Now that Oniboshi will have to support the fleet all by themselves, there is a need for more than just fighters."

"One of the problems is that the Third Fleet contains no medical frigates," she continued. "Apparently that role was covered by a separate wing of the Oni military." She paused for a moment. "However with the small number of available workers, construction of one is considered a low priority right now, even though having ready access to specialized medical facilities would doubtlessly save many lives."

Ataru looked interested, so she kept going. "Therefore we have volunteered to convert the _Minokichi_ into a medical vessel. Per standard galactic agreements, the ship will carry absolutely no weapons and should not be considered a target by enemy forces."

"Is that so?" he asked, wondering what she was getting at.

"If you would like to join us on this project, I would be honored," Oyuki concluded. "The _Minokichi_ remains badly damaged and between repairs and doing the refits, we could use all the help we can get."

"That sounds great," Ataru said, looking excited. "I really wouldn't mind doing that at all."

"I will inform my supervisors to expect you then," she said.

Lum suddenly spoke up. "Is that offer open to me as well?" she asked hesitantly.

"Of course it is, Lum," Oyuki replied, not showing her surprise.

Ataru turned to her. "I thought you wanted to help out on the interceptors."

"I'd honestly rather do something that would save lives," Lum stated firmly. "No matter what you think of me, I don't enjoy war either."

"I never thought you did," Ataru said quietly.

"Thank you, Lum," Oyuki said. "We could really use someone with your technical knowledge helping out as well."

She put down her teacup and with a polite bow started down the stairs. "I shall see to it that you two are placed on the same team," she called back. "Lum, I think you would be the best possible mentor for Ataru in technical matters."

Lum smiled. "That would be nice," she replied.

Ataru looked worried for a second, but managed to smile. The time he had spent learning how to use a computer from her over the summer had been enjoyable after all.

They both waved to Oyuki as she disappeared into one of her dimensional tunnels. From the darkness a green surge swept from the forest and disappeared behind her. A few seconds after the last one had gone through the portal winked into nothingness.

"What was that?" Ataru asked, mystified.

"Snow Lemmings," Lum replied. "Oyuki had them combing the woods for you."

"Ah," he said, realizing finally what all the scurrying had been. He turned to her. "Are you sure you want to work on this project?" he asked curiously. "You said yourself they could use all the help they could get on those interceptors."

"And Oyuki said the same thing about her project," Lum reminded him. "If it's a choice between the two, I'd much rather choose this."

Ataru wondered what exactly Oyuki had said to Lum earlier. "Ok," he replied easily. "Well, I guess we should get to bed and see what we can do tomorrow."

"That sounds wonderful, Darling," Lum replied, taking his hand.


	23. Ataru's Decision

The air was sweltering. Ataru wiped ineffectually at his brow with a nearby rag, not noticing that he had only succeeded in smearing a streak of grease across his face. Tossing the rag aside, he slipped his protective goggles back on and returned to wielding a thick steel panel to the ship's superstructure.

Finishing the weld, he inspected his work. A bit sloppy looking still, but it should hold as well as any pretty looking one. He grinned and looked across the small space he shared with his partner. She was hard at work as well, sparks flying erratically from her welding torch as she moved along the seam.

Lum cut her torch as she reached the end of her flawless weld. Flipping her goggles up, she glanced over to see how Darling was doing. Catching sight of his face, she had to fight to not burst out laughing.

"What's wrong?" he asked irritably, hoping he hadn't screwed something up again.

Lum crawled over to him. Taking one glove off, she licked her thumb and rubbed it across his forehead.

"Look," she said, unable to hold back the giggles any longer.

Ataru scowled when he saw her formerly clean finger now smeared black. His eyes crossed as he instinctively tried to look at his own forehead and failed.

"Poor Darling," Lum said, still laughing. "What did you do?"

Ataru shrugged helplessly. "I dunno, it's pretty dirty in here," he replied casually.

Her laughter eventually petered out. "Well, I'm done over here, how's your side?"

"Take a look," he said, hoping it would pass her critical inspection.

"Looks fine," Lum said. "You're getting a lot better."

"I'm trying," he replied, glad he was at the point he could assess his own work fairly well.

"Let's get out of here for a few," Lum said, setting her small welding rig out of the way. "I'm burning up."

Ataru took a look outside through the nearby large jagged hole in the ship's outer hull. They still had a lot of work to do in this area, but things were coming along nicely. Seeing that Lum was already on her way out, he snatched up their heavy toolbox and hurried to catch up to her. They made their way along a narrow passage and back to the hatch that led back to the interior of the ship.

Emerging into a small cargo hold, the two set down their tools and sat down together on one of the several piles of ready to be affixed plates. A few other members of their team were already resting in various places around the room. Working at their own pace without much direct supervision, everyone took breaks as they needed them.

"Ah, it feels really good in here," Ataru commented. Oyuki did her best to keep the holds air-conditioned, but with all the damage it was impossible to keep the space between the inner and outer hulls cool. The heat put off by all the welding didn't help any either.

"Yeah, it does," Lum agreed, fanning herself with one of her gloves. She caught sight of his face again and giggled. "I'll be right back," she promised, running off towards one of the supply carts. She returned with a clean rag and a bottle of water.

"Hold still," she admonished him and got to work cleaning off his face.

Ataru grimaced, but complied while trying to ignore the amused looks they were getting from their coworkers. "You're embarrassing me," he growled.

Lum giggled and kept scrubbing until the grease was mostly gone. "Ok, that's better," she told him.

Ataru, still blushing, stared at the floor for a moment. "We should get back to work soon," he muttered.

Lum nodded. "In just a minute," she replied, taking a drink. She passed the bottle to Ataru, who took a long gulp as well.

"Ok," she said cheerfully. "I'm ready."

He got back on his feet slowly. "Alright."

"You ok?" Lum asked, looking concerned. "You aren't getting overheated are you, Darling?" She had noticed that he seemed a bit jittery today.

Ataru smiled. "Nah, just a little tired."

"Well, we've only got a few more panels on this deck," she reminded him. "Then we can call it a day."

He retrieved the toolbox from the floor and started back towards the access hatch. Lum frowned, wondering why he was lugging it around with him, but didn't ask. Darling did tend to complain when a tool he needed was missing; perhaps he was afraid someone might borrow something while they were gone. His paranoid ways were a bit amusing at times.

* * *

"Darling, could you hand me the 35mm wrench?" Lum asked over her shoulder. The toolbox was sitting just behind him and well out of her reach.

"Sure," he replied, managing to finish lining up another panel. "Give me a second."

He dug through the box briefly, then handed her a wrench. She took it without looking and tried to tighten the bolt she was working on. As soon as she put pressure on it, the wrench slipped around the head, not catching at all. Lum peered closely at it, wondering if she had asked for the wrong size.

"Darling," she said with a slight frown, "you gave me a 38mm wrench. I need the 35mm one."

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, taking the incorrect wrench back and rummaging some more. He handed her another one. "Here you go."

Lum peered at it. "This one's 33mm" she said, getting slightly irritated. "Are you even looking at them?"

Ataru looked embarrassed and started searching again. "Sorry," he apologized quietly. "I've got sweat in my eyes, and it's hard to see the numbers."

Lum hoisted herself up and stepped over. "Here, let me just get it," she said, shooing him out of the way.

She looked through the toolbox herself, quickly finding the handle marked 35mm near the top. She fished it out and was just turning back to her work when she noticed a small black box firmly wedged in the mouth of the wrench.

"What's this?" Lum muttered as she pried the box loose. Seeing that it had a hinged lid, she inquisitively popped it open. Her eyes widened as she found a delicate silver band set with a small diamond nestled inside. The wrench clattered to the floor unnoticed. She looked up at Ataru in shock, not believing her eyes.

Ataru smiled and took her hands between his own. Rising up on one knee, he began speaking. "Lum, I know that this might seem kind of backwards at this point, and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to ask you this." He paused for a moment, building up his courage. "I mean, we've been together for a long time now, and I think we get along pretty well. It just seemed like maybe it's time to make it official."

Trying to clear his rambling thoughts, Ataru shook his head and looked her straight in the eyes. "Lum, what I'm trying to say is, will you marry me?"

Lum let out an excited shriek and tackled him, peppering his face with kisses. "Yes, Darling," she managed to tearfully answer. "I've wanted to hear you say those words for so very long. "

Ataru put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry," he apologized again. "I can't imagine spending my life with anyone but you."

He took the ring from her and carefully slid it on her finger. "It looks really good on you," he said with a warm smile.

"I can't believe this," Lum gushed. "I'll try so hard to be a perfect wife for you."

"You already are," he assured her. "And you always have been."

Lum sniffled and tried to dry her eyes. "How long have you been planning this?" she asked after composing herself.

"A couple of weeks," he replied happily. "But I've known that I wanted to do this for a long time now."

"How in the world did you afford this beautiful ring?" Lum asked, staring at it adoringly. She knew they weren't making enough extra money from working on the ship to afford luxuries like this.

"I got this really good deal from a Neptunian jeweler," Ataru admitted, looking embarrassed. "He wanted to thank us for helping when we all first arrived."

"I'll have to thank him later," she said, giving Ataru another hug. "I just can't believe this is really happening." She paused and looked at him closely. "You're sure you want to take this step, aren't you?"

"Positive," Ataru replied.

Lum giggled. "I can't wait to tell everyone," she told him. "Our parents are going to be so happy."

Ataru grinned, glad that he had finally gotten up his courage and went through with it.

Lum hugged him one more time. "Let's hurry up and finish these panels," she said happily. "The faster we get done, the faster I can go tell Mom."

* * *

By the time the two had finished their work and departed the _Minokichi_, gossip about their engagement was already growing. Lum had insisted on showing off her ring to everyone they passed, and the news had spread quickly amongst the mostly Neptunian workers. Their polite excitement had paled in comparison to that of the scattered Oni workers who managed to hear about the engagement of their beloved princess.

As soon as they reached their UFO, Lum got on the phone.

"Guess what!" she exclaimed as soon as her mother answered.

"_What_?" her mother asked, looking concerned.

"Darling finally asked me to marry him!" Lum enthusiastically answered.

Ataru sank down on one of the couches and listened warily to the fast paced conversation the two were having. He couldn't tell what her mother was saying, but from Lum's replies it appeared his future mother-in-law was asking a million questions her daughter couldn't answer.

Lum quickly wrapped up her conversation and flew over to Ataru, throwing her arms around his neck. "Darling, I'm so happy," she said for the twentieth time that evening."

"Me too," he replied, kissing her cheek. "Your mother sounded excited."

"She wanted to know when the wedding date is," Lum told him shyly, settling down in his lap. "We've got a lot to plan."

Ataru nodded. "I hadn't really thought about all the details," he admitted nervously.

"Do you have any preferences?" she asked earnestly.

"Not really," he told her. "As long as you're there with me I'll be happy."

"Ok," Lum replied, looking thoughtful. "I've thought before that it would be really nice to have an outdoor wedding," she mused. "We've had so many bad experiences in churches before, maybe you would feel less confined that way." She put her finger to her mouth and thought some more. "But then we'd have to do it before the weather starts getting cold."

"How long is that?" Ataru asked cautiously.

"About a month or two," Lum answered.

"That soon?" he stuttered.

"Is that not ok?" Lum asked, looking hurt. "I know that wouldn't be a long engagement, but I've been waiting for this for so long."

"No, no, that's fine," Ataru hastily assured her, suppressing his instinct to panic. "

Lum beamed at him. "Good. You're doing too well to start getting jittery already."

"I'm not jittery," he protested. "It's just not much time to get things ready, is it?" He paused for a moment. "You weren't wanting anything too big and fancy were you?"

Lum smiled patiently. "Darling, I'd be happy with just a quiet ceremony with a few friends and family," she replied. "But my parents are a different story. You remember the time when we almost got married before, right?"

Ataru remembered it well. He'd been intimidated into the wedding by both Lum and their parents, and he had been scared stiff the entire time. Though he had tried to tell himself he was ready for marriage, his nerves had driven him running away from the alter at the last minute. Lum had thankfully stopped trying to force him into marriage after that.

"So you're saying they'll want it to be a big affair?" he asked, remembering the crowded ceremony last time.

"Probably," Lum answered. "If we were on Earth, we might could have gotten away with a smaller wedding, but here Dad will insist on making it a big event."

Ataru frowned and looked away.

"Darling, what's wrong?" she worriedly asked. "Are you that set against a big ceremony?"

"No, that's not it," he said, looking back at her. "I was just thinking that it was sad that all our friends back on Earth will miss our wedding. The way things are looking, there's no way we could go back there any time soon."

"I know," she said, giving him a hug. "I really miss everyone, but there's nothing we can do. Unless things change fast, even Benton won't be able to come."

"Well, our families are here," Ataru said after a moment. "That's all that really matters I guess."

"I suppose so," she answered. "Ran-chan and Oyuki-chan and Rei are here too at least."

"That's true," he replied. After this long he felt like they were as much his friends as anyone. Except maybe Rei. He still had a sneaking suspicion Rei would probably eat him given half a chance, but luckily the guy had been fairly enthralled with Ran lately.

Lum smiled and kissed him on the lips, keeping her eyes locked securely on his the entire time. Pulling back, she tapped him on the nose with one finger. "I'm going to start dinner," she announced "I don't know about you, but I'm starved."

Ataru nodded, not having been able to eat much of his lunch earlier due to his frayed nerves. "Ok," he replied, releasing her. "I guess I could go ahead and take a shower while you cook."

"Darling, why don't you just wait until after dinner?" she asked teasingly. "There's plenty of room in there for two, after all."

Ataru swallowed hard, his face turning bright red. "Alright," he managed to mutter nervously. She headed for the kitchen smiling, leaving him in wide-eyed silence.

* * *

Tsuukai looked on amused as her sister kept the calls going nonstop. Cuddling Ten close, she kissed him on the top of the head. "I think your aunt is more excited than Lum was," she commented.

Ten smiled. "Lum-chan's been waiting for this for a long time," he managed to get out. He was finally getting more used to his mother's presence, though he still made sure to be overly polite.

"You should be sure that you don't make some nice girl wait forever when you grow up," she admonished, tapping him playfully on the nose.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied fearfully.

"That's my good boy," she cooed.

Lum's mother smiled as she finally got through to her husband.

"Hello, dear," a weary looking Invader answered. "I hear you have something important to tell me?"

"_Lum's engaged_," she told him happily.

He looked confused for a moment. "Oh, you mean he finally popped the question himself?"

"_Yep_," his wife replied. "_Isn't it wonderful_?"

"It's about time," he responded. "Have they set a date yet?"

"_Not yet_," she said, looking worried. "_We've got to plan all this out still_."

"Keep me updated on everything," he told her seriously. "I've got a lot to handle up here, but I'll do whatever I can to help."

"_Thank you dear_," she replied. "_We'll keep you in the loop_." She paused for a second. "_When do you think you'll be able to come home again_?"

"I can't say," Invader admitted. "Things are pretty hectic still, and we keep thinking Uru's about to make their move."

"_Ok_," she said sadly. "_I'll let you get back to work then_."

"Sorry," he said with a grimace. "I'll make it up to you when I can."

The screen blinked off.

"That's gotta be pretty rough," her sister commented.

Lum's mother managed to smile. "_It's ok_," she said cheerfully. "_I knew there would be times like this when I married a military man_."

Tsuukai set Ten down and stretched. "I wonder where my husband is," she mused. "He should be back by now."

"_He's probably just working late_."

"He works late a lot," Tsuukai replied, sounding annoyed. "I wish we hadn't gotten different shifts this month, I miss spending time with him." She frowned and looked around, wondering where Ten had got to. "It's so quiet here now that the Moroboshis got their own place."

"_I kind of miss everyone being crowded in here," _Lum's mother admitted. "_Now that it's just the four of us_, _it's kind of lonely."_

"I know what you mean," Tsuukai replied. With the lesser need for firefighters on Oniboshi, she wasn't getting nearly as many shifts as she was used to, and hanging around the nearly empty house got boring quickly. "I need to find a hobby," she decided.

"_Find one after we get Lum's marriage arranged_," her elder sister said. "_I'll need lots of help getting things together_."

"You got it," Tsuukai responded, smiling in anticipation. This might be fun.

* * *

Lum groaned and switched the communications console off, knowing it would record any further messages they got.

"Who was that," Ataru asked lazily from the bedroom.

"Ran-chan," Lum replied wearily. "I swear, my mom must have called everyone she knows."

Ataru peeked back in. "What did she have to say?" he asked nervously.

"She was mad that I hadn't told her myself yet," Lum replied as she joined him. "I finally just had to tell her I was busy with other things."

Ataru blushed, but then looked worried. "You don't think she's going to try anything, do you?"

Lum scowled. "She'd better not." She snuggled up close to her Darling. "Are you about ready for bed?"

He put his arm around her back. "Yeah," he admitted, holding back a yawn. "It's been a long day."

"Now I know why you were so restless last night," Lum realized. She gave him a stern look. "You're sneaky, Darling."

He shrugged. "I know it was a corny way to do things, but I wanted to surprise you."

She rested her head against his chest. "You sure did," she quietly told him. "Sometimes I wondered if you were ever going to propose."

Ataru looked down at the top of her head, feeling guilty. "I should have done it a long time ago," he admitted. "I just needed to make sure I was ready for this."

"What made you decide you were ready now?" Lum asked, looking back up at him.

He released her and headed for bed. "A lot of things, I guess," he replied as he laid down. He patted the covers beside him invitingly.

Lum hung up her robe and joined him in bed. "Like what?" she asked, not dropping the subject.

"Nothing specific," Ataru answered, staring at the ceiling intently. "We've been together a long time and it just seemed right." He glanced at her and frowned. "Does that make sense?"

She gave him a kiss. "Whatever the reason, Darling, I'm happy."

After she fell asleep, Ataru lay awake for a time, wondering what would have been a good answer to her question. There really wasn't anything he could nail down as a reason. Living on their own the past few weeks had perhaps been the final trigger, but he'd been thinking about it for much longer.

He half wondered if it wasn't partly fear driving him forward. Adjusting to not only a new home but a completely different culture as well was stressful at best. Lum was his lifeline, a viable connection to his old life back on Earth. He felt like he would be lost without her.

Of course it was comforting that his parents had come and were adjusting to their new life as well, of course, but it just wasn't the same. He'd spent much more time with Lum than either of them the last couple of years. She had been his constant companion, no matter if they were on a crazy adventure or just trying to stay awake through their classes. She had even stayed by his side for days when he was injured.

Lum sighed heavily in her sleep, interrupting his thoughts. He carefully intertwined his fingers with her own, making sure not to disturb her. She merely smiled and shifted slightly closer to him.

Ataru stared at her sleeping face for a few minutes. In the end, it didn't matter what had pushed him forward. All that mattered was that she was happy and by his side. The restriction of being bound to one girl didn't seem too bad when you adored that girl with all of your heart and soul.

Content with that answer, he at last drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Far away a young man in a rabbit suit was carefully lining up a doorknob with its intended door when his hand suddenly clenched nothing but empty air. Checking his bag, it appeared several of the knobs he had brought were now missing.

Stroking his chin, Inaba briefly wondered what this might portend. These doorknobs were forged to account for any possible destiny. When knobs dissappeared, that usually just meant the futures they held were no longer possible. He wondered what event had just occurred to wipe out so many at once.

These doorknobs were among the last batch he had needed to replace after the whole incident months ago, meaning that either Shinobu or her friends were likely to be affected by whatever was going on. He made a note to visit his lovely girlfriend as soon and make sure everything was ok. With the rumors that Earth could be invaded any time now, it didn't hurt to be extra careful.

Shrugging, he pulled the next doorknob out of his bag and set it into the door. There was still a lot of work left to do and he couldn't afford to get any more behind.


	24. Surprise Visitor

The UFO was quiet today. Ataru tried watching TV for a few minutes, but there was nothing particularly interesting on today. Deciding that he didn't get out enough anyways, he left the ship and went for a stroll.

In the distance the towering form of the _Minokichi_ loomed over the landscape. No longer a battered shell, the hull repairs were finally finished and a new white and red paintjob clearly marked it as a medical vessel. Ataru gazed upon it with pride. It had taken them several long weeks, but at last the ship was whole again. In truth it was a much better ship than they had started. Additional armor and a complete overhaul of the engines with the much more advanced technology meant that it would be much safer and faster than before.

The familiar sight wouldn't be there much longer, however. Rumors were thick that the invasion of Earth would be starting soon, and that meant the great ship would be needed.

Despite all that was happening, Lum's parents were insistent that the wedding go on as planned. With her father now the leader of their entire military, Lum's popularity had never been greater. The people of Oniboshi looked upon their upcoming marriage as a sign of great hope and joy in these troubled times.

Ataru sighed as he thought about it. It was hard to enjoy their engagement between the pressure here and worrying about his friends back on Earth. The chances that they could quickly stop the invasion had grown slimmer during the last month. From all reports Uru had reportedly been building up their military forces at an unprecedented rate. With the other planet's much greater population and industrial might, there was no way Oniboshi could keep up. It appeared the Urusein forces were playing it safe and taking no chances on stretching themselves too thin.

Trying to think about a happier subject, he idly wondered what sort of dress Lum would pick out. She had left early that morning with her mother and aunt to be measured and look at some styles, leading to his rather dull afternoon alone. Ataru had been specifically excluded from the outing, which honestly was ok with him at the time. Now he was wondering what he could do to keep himself occupied.

The two had been picking up a bit of work fixing civilian craft since the _Minokichi_ project was completed, but not enough to stay busy every day. Besides, he still didn't really trust himself to do that much intricate work without Lum anyhow. He felt guilty that they were still relying on her father for money, but there was no helping it. Without a degree there wasn't much they could do besides freelance work.

He glumly counted the remaining money he had on him. It wasn't all that much, as they resisted accepting any more money from her father than what they needed to live on. He figured he still had enough to go grab a bite to eat somewhere at the very least.

As he walked, Ataru pondered what his chances at making it into any trade schools here were. Without having any formal Oni education, he suspected his chances were not very good. Of course being Invader's son-in-law might sway things favorably, but even if he got accepted he had his doubts that he would be able to keep up with the curriculum.

Thinking about it, he figured that the school year would be pretty far along back home. Even if everything was magically resolved and he could return today, it was doubtful he'd be able to catch up enough to pass the college entrance exams. They were doing a lot of studying during their free time, so perhaps eventually he'd have a shot at higher education, just not right now.

Realizing that he was making himself depressed all over again, Ataru tried to focus again on the one thing going right in his life: Lum. She had been in a great mood in the last few weeks since he had proposed, and they hadn't been fighting much at all. That was nice, though odd after their years of almost daily small spats.

Finally reaching the strip of restaurants adjacent to the spaceport, Ataru started looking for somewhere to eat. They didn't go out much lately, so he had a hard time remembering which ones sold food that wouldn't sear his mouth. Lum usually had a better memory about this kind of thing.

At last passing a place he was sure they had eaten at before, he entered. A few Neptunians were dining inside; likely they had the same aversion to typical Oni cuisine. A couple waved to him, and he waved back, vaguely remembering them as being part of another work crew on the _Minokichi_. Truth be told, most of the Neptunians knew him by sight at this point.

Glad that Japanese was widely spoken on Oniboshi, Ataru ordered the equivalent of a beef bowl, making sure to ask for the mildest possible variety. Receiving his order quickly, he retreated to a quiet table in the corner of the restaurant and began wolfing down his lunch.

He was nearly through when a middle aged Oni man unexpectedly sat down at his table. Ataru eyed him warily, not used to being randomly approached by strangers. The man waited patiently until Ataru was finished eating, then gave a warm smile and extended his hand.

"You are Earthling who will marry Princess Lum, yes?"

Ataru nodded hesitantly and shook the Oni's hand. The man didn't seem very proficient in Japanese, but Ataru could tell he was trying hard.

"I am owner," the man explained, gesturing to show he meant of the restaurant. "I remember you from before."

Ataru nodded again, looking confused. He hoped he wasn't about to get kicked out of the restaurant, though he was pretty sure they hadn't caused a disturbance last time he had visited.

"Your food today, is free," the man told him.

"How come?" Ataru asked, getting more and more confused by the second.

""I am honored you choose my restaurant," the man shyly replied, standing up and giving a slight bow. "Please come again anytime."

Ataru shook his head. "You don't have to do that," he told the smiling Oni.

"Please accept," the man insisted. "Is least I can do for good man."

Ataru accepted in the end, unwilling to hurt the owner's feelings. He thanked the man sincerely, then went on his way. As he walked down the street he hoped this wouldn't become a trend. As easy as it was on the wallet, it just didn't feel right for people to give him things just because of who his wife was.

He kept a subtle eye on the people he passed, wanting to see if anyone else noticed him. To his surprise several appeared to, though most didn't pay him any attention. He supposed many would think he was either a Neptunian or one of Nikusui race like Ran. The few who did appear to recognize him were mostly Neptunians.

Noticing that most of the Neptunians tended to still wear kimonos, he checked out his own clothes and frowned. Even though he was very careful with them, his few remaining clothes from earth were starting to look more than a bit worn. He was thankful he had always kept a couple of spare outfits on their UFO for when they stayed the night, but at this point having such a limited wardrobe meant they were wearing out fast.

Looking down at his shoes, he saw that they weren't faring very well either. He had grabbed an already old pair for their picnic that final day, a decision he had regretted several times during their time on Oniboshi.

Venturing down towards the maze of shops the Neptunian merchants had set up, he started browsing idly to see what kind of clothes they offered. Oni outfits tended to be a bit too heavy on the tiger stripes for his liking, though he figured sooner or later he'd have to get used to it.

Seeing a few things he liked but being still short on cash, Ataru continued on his way. He was just wandering away from the shopping district when a flash of something white moving in a nearby alley caught his eye. Stopping, he peered down the dim path, but whatever it had been was gone now.

Shrugging, he kept going down the street. With nowhere left to go, Ataru considered returning home, but Lum probably wouldn't be home for a few hours still. It was down to being bored there or being bored out here. At least out here he could get some exercise.

* * *

Inaba cautiously peeked around the corner. He was fairly certain that it was Ataru who had just passed by, but wanted to be sure before bothered him. It had been several months since they'd last met, and it appeared the earthling had matured a bit since then.

Opening another doorway, he skipped ahead of his target and peeked out from another alley. From this angle there was no mistaking that it was Ataru. Inaba rushed out with his hand thrown up in greeting, not realizing how startling he must look with his rabbit hood down over his face.

"Ataru-san, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Nearly falling backwards in shock, Ataru glared at the rabbit for a moment before speaking. "Are you one of those destiny rabbits?" he asked warily.

Inaba was puzzled for a moment until he remembered his hood. Throwing it back, he revealed his face.

"Ah, it's you, Inaba," Ataru greeted him. "What are you doing here?"

Inaba smiled. "I've been looking for you and Lum-san," he explained happily. "Shinobu-san asked if I would check up on you two." He looked around curiously and frowned. "Lum-san hasn't dumped you, has she?"

"Why would you ask something like that?" Ataru demanded angrily.

"I mean no offense!" Inaba protested hastily. "I just didn't see her around and I didn't know." He paused for a moment, looking down. "If you recall, there were several possible futures where it has happened."

"If you must know, she's off looking for a wedding dress right now," Ataru spat out, getting annoyed.

"Oh, she's getting married?" Inaba asked, still clueless. "Who's the lucky groom?"

Ataru stared at him for a long moment, trying to keep in mind that Inaba likely had seen thousands of different futures. "I am," he finally ground out between clenched teeth. "Is that so hard to imagine?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Inaba replied, bowing his head repeatedly in apology. "Congratulations, Ataru-san." He hesitated for a moment. "That would explain why so many of your futures have disappeared lately."

Ataru still looked irritated. "What's that mean?"

"When major choices are made, it can narrow the number of your possible futures," Inaba explained patiently. "Everyone is born with almost unlimited potential futures, but the more choices you make the further they are slimmed down." He paused for a moment, wondering how he could explain it better. "In this case, marrying Lum will automatically eliminate any futures where you never got married, you understand?"

"I see," Ataru responded reflectively. "That makes sense at least. All that rabbits creating our future stuff is still pretty confusing though."

"Yeah, it really is," Inaba said, embarrassedly rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm just an apprentice really, so I just follow orders."

Ataru shook his head slightly, trying to get back on topic. "Anyways, you said Shinobu-chan was worried about us?"

"Yeah," Inaba replied quickly. "She said no one on Earth has heard from this planet in awhile now."

"Lum's father told us the satellite network around Earth was being jammed from receiving signals," Ataru explained.

"I see," Inaba replied. "I must admit, from what I've heard, I am somewhat worried about Shinobu-san's safety."

"I know what you mean," Ataru agreed with a frown. "Do you know how everyone back there is doing?"

"Pretty well, though Shinobu-san and her classmates are keeping really busy with their studies," Inaba replied absentmindedly, digging in his pocket. He pulled out a thick envelope and presented it to Ataru. "I need to get going in a minute, but she wanted me to make sure I gave this to you."

Ataru took the envelope hesitantly. "What is it?"

"Letters," Inaba answered. "After I agreed to look for you two, Shinobu-san got all your friends to write them."

"Ah," Ataru said, looking excited. "Please tell them that I really appreciate this." He gave the rabbit suited man a troubled look. "How come you have to leave so soon?"

"I've got a lot of work to do, and it takes a while to travel to a world this far away." Inaba looked guilty. "It took me time just to find the way, and then I had some trouble locating you."

"Ok," Ataru said, trying to think. "Do you think you'll be able to come back again some time?"

"I might can stop by in a few days," Inaba answered hesitantly. "I can't promise anything though."

"I hate to even ask, but I'd like to write a letter for them as well," Ataru replied. "I don't want to inconvenience you though."

"Think nothing of it," Inaba assured him. "It's good exercise for me." He grinned and bowed politely. "Please give Lum-san my regards."

"I will," Ataru promised. "Thanks a lot, Inaba."

With a wave Inaba left, the door he had conjured in midair disappearing as soon as it shut.

Flipping the envelope over in his hands, Ataru started strolling casually back home, wondering if he should open it now or wait for Lum's return. The envelope was addressed to both of them after all.

* * *

Shinobu was just leaving the school grounds when she heard a door quietly open and close behind her. Pretending not to notice, she walked on, swinging her bag slightly as she walked. She listened closely and managed to hear soft footsteps attempting to mirror her own.

Whirling suddenly, she leapt with her arms wide and hugged her rabbit suited boyfriend tight.

"Aww," he said, looking a bit sad. "I was going to surprise you."

"Scare me, you mean," Shinobu scolded him. "I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"I've got a little time off," he explained nervously. "I spent this afternoon trying to find Oniboshi."

Shinobu looked up at him. "Really? Did you find them?"

"Yeah," Inaba replied cheerfully. "Well, I spoke with Ataru-san at least."

"Where was Lum-chan?" she asked worriedly. "They're still together, aren't they?"

"Oh, yeah," he assured her. "Ataru-san said they were actually engaged now."

"Really?" she squealed. "That's great." She pouted for a moment and released Inaba. "And I'm going to miss the wedding, aren't I?"

"Sorry," Inaba replied helplessly. "Ataru-san did want me to tell you thanks for the letters. He seemed really happy."

"That's good," Shinobu responded quietly. "So did he seem well?"

"He seemed fine," Inaba told her. "Maybe a bit more subdued than I remembered him being though."

"He has had a lot of rough experiences," Shinobu pointed out. "I hope he's not having too hard of a time on that planet of full of Oni."

"He asked if I could come back soon so he could give me a letter for everyone here," Inaba commented. "I'll see if I can get time again."

"Thanks, Inaba," Shinobu said, giving him another hug. "You're the best boyfriend ever."

He blushed. "Would you like to maybe go get some tea?"

Shinobu nodded. "That'd be great," she replied, taking his arm. "I know this great little teashop downtown that we haven't tried yet."

* * *

Waving goodbye to her mother and aunt as they drove away, Lum giggled and flew up their stairs. Opening the door, she frowned when the sight of Ataru sprawled out asleep on the couch met her eyes.

Honestly, Darling, you shouldn't sleep the entire day away," she scolded quietly, not waking him up. She was about to go start dinner when she noticed an envelope laying on the floor next to the Ataru's hand. Curious, she picked it up and took a look. It had both of their names written on it in Japanese and appeared to have quite a few pieces of paper stuffed inside.

Lum was tempted to open it, but figured she should wake Darling up first. He had obviously dropped it there, after all.

"Darling," she called out softly, not wanting to startle him. He didn't budge even after a few more attempts. Deciding more direct measures were needed, Lum hovered above him. She figured a good long kiss would be enough to rouse him.

It seemed Ataru, still sound asleep, had other things on his mind. "Lum-chan," he muttered in an adoring tone, "you idiot."

She furrowed her brow, tempted now just to bite him instead. Still, Darling could be amusing when he started talking in his sleep, so she just stayed quiet to see if he would say any more. After a few moments her patience was rewarded.

He chuckled briefly, and then started talking again. "Don't do that," he said happily, squirming a bit. "That tickles."

Lum cocked her head to the side and blushed, wondering exactly what Darling was dreaming.

He started giggling and flexing his fingers. "You're not getting away after all that." His hands shot out quicker than Lum could react and snagged her out of the air. He pulled back down hard and she crashed into him, bumping her head hard against his.

"Ow!" she bit out.

Ataru looked around wildly, startled awake by both the impact and the noise. "What's going on?" he asked in a panic, seeing Lum hovering over him rubbing her forehead.

"What the hell were you dreaming about?" Lum demanded angrily.

He blinked a couple of times. "I'm not sure," he admitted after a moment. He frowned at her. "What are you doing?"

Lum blushed again. "Nothing," she said, crossing her arms and sitting down on the back of the couch.

Ataru stretched and checked his watch, surprised that so much time had passed. "Have you been home long?"

She looked at him with an embarrassed expression. "No, I just got home." Remembering the envelope, she brandished it at him. "Darling, what's this?"

He looked at it blankly for a moment, still feeling sleepy. "Oh, Inaba brought that, it's supposed to be letters from everyone back in Tomobiki.

"Inaba was here?" Lum asked, totally lost.

"Yeah, I ran into him downtown earlier," Ataru said with a yawn. He sat up and took the envelope back from her. "He said Shinobu-chan asked him to deliver it."

"That was nice," she said quietly. "I didn't know he could travel this far."

"I guess it's not that much different from going to Earth," Ataru replied dubiously. "I was waiting for you to get home to open it, but I guess I fell asleep."

Lum hopped down. "Why don't we have dinner first?" she suggested. "I haven't had anything since breakfast." She looked critically at him, knowing that if he'd been out, he'd probably had lunch somewhere. He was entirely too predictable at times. "How about you?"

"I'm a bit hungry," Ataru admitted. He put the envelope down on the couch and followed her idly towards the kitchen. "Did you find anything you liked today?"

Lum beamed at him. "I found the cutest dress!" she told him excitedly. "They're working on getting it altered now."

"I can't wait to see," he replied honestly. Whatever she had picked, he was sure it would look beautiful on her.

"You'll have to wait until the wedding," she said teasingly as she started gathering up ingredients. "I want it to be a surprise."

Ataru merely smiled and leaned back against the counter, silently watching her begin preparing dinner. He counted himself lucky that she had become a pretty good cook in a relatively short amount of time. All around, he felt pretty lucky in a lot of ways at the moment.

"What are you thinking about, Darling?" Lum asked as she continued working, well aware of his appreciative gaze.

"Nothing in particular," he replied. "Just glad you're home."

"You used to tell me that you were happier when I was gone," Lum teased him.

"That's true," Ataru sighed dramatically. "Then again, it seemed like I had more things to do back then."

Lum didn't rise to his bait. "Is that so," she asked casually. "So you're bored now?

"At times," he admitted honestly. "When you're not around and there's no work to do, it's hard to find ways to stay busy."

"You don't play games much anymore," she pointed out. "And after I took the trouble to get them downloaded here."

"Eh, I appreciate it, but I get bored playing by myself," he said dismissively. "That does remind me, we should play some more on _Runic Wars_ sometime. I miss that."

"It has been awhile," Lum agreed. By the time she had gotten hold of a copy here, they were busy working on the _Minokichi_ and usually too tired to do much more than eat and sleep. "If we don't have any jobs tomorrow, we should play a while."

Ataru nodded. "That sounds good to me."

"That's because you're easy to please, Darling," Lum teased him. She put their dinner in the oven and joined him in leaning against the counter. Edging over, she slightly leaned against him as well.

"Like you aren't," Ataru retorted, seeing her content smile.

"I never said I wasn't," Lum replied quietly, glancing up at him. She tapped her foot impatiently while the food cooked, wishing it would hurry up so she could eat.

"Darling, do I ever bore you?" Lum asked suddenly, trying to make conversation.

Ataru scowled, not sure where the question had come from. "No, why would you even ask that?"

"I dunno," she replied guiltily after noticing his tone. That probably hadn't been the best topic to come up with. "I just worry sometimes that you might start getting fickle again."

"Don't you trust me?" he asked, slightly hurt.

"I do trust you, Darling," Lum replied. She just kept digging herself in deeper. "I know you wouldn't cheat on me at this point," she continued hurriedly, "but sometimes I wonder if you'll get tired of me someday. I don't want you to be unhappy." She hated to throw a guilt trip on him, but she didn't know how to extract herself from the conversation without hurting his feelings.

The timer beeped and she left his side to remove the dish from the oven.

Ataru frowned deeply, not liking where this conversation was going. It didn't help that he had no idea how to even argue the point. Right now all he knew was that he wasn't bored of living with her; in fact she was the one interesting thing in his life. No matter what else changed he didn't think his fascination with her was going to lessen any time soon.

"Well," he started hesitantly, "I can honestly say you're probably the least likely girl to ever bore me." He looked away. "I proposed to you because I want to spend my life with you. Even if I do somehow get bored in life, I still can't imagine anyone else I'd rather be bored with."

"That's a really sweet way to put it, Darling," Lum told him sincerely while she finished up seasoning their dinner. "I'm sorry I asked that," she hastily apologized, "I really didn't mean to put you on the spot like that."

Ataru looked at her dumbstruck. Lum was actually apologizing without them even fighting over the issue. "It's ok," he told her softly. "It's one of those things I think we've both worried about from time to time."

Lum smiled, glad Ataru had accepted her apology. He was really acting more mature lately. "Darling, have I told you that I love you lately?" she asked.

"Not since this morning," he replied casually, gathering up the plates and chopsticks. "But I know you do."

She smiled and carried the main dish out towards the table. "Good." She kissed him on the cheek when he sat down at the table. "I can't tell you enough how wonderful you are."

"Don't say things like that," Ataru grumped, getting embarrassed.

Lum grinned. He was still pretty shy at times. "Let's eat," she said, sitting down herself. "I can't wait to read those letters."


	25. Letters from Home

After dinner and a quick shower, Ataru snatched up the envelope Inaba had delivered and flopped down in bed. Lum followed close behind and settled down next to him, eager to know what was going on back in Tomobiki.

The first and most elegant looking letter was simply labeled _Shinobu_. Ataru unfolded it delicately and started scanning through it.

"Darling, why don't you read it out loud?" Lum suggested, impatient to hear what it said.

Ataru looked slightly annoyed, but he complied. "Alright, here goes."

_Dear Ataru and Lum,_

_How are you doing? It seems like a really long time since we last talked, but I guess it's only been a couple of months now. I hope you are both well and staying out of trouble. Things certainly are quieter here since you left. Especially with you gone, Ataru, though we girls certainly aren't complaining. Tomobiki just isn't the same without the two of you running around._

_Some men from the government came and boarded up your house a day or two after you went, so everything should be as you left it when you return. I do hope you will come back whenever this whole mess is sorted out. It was announced back then that we might get invaded again, but since nothing has happened yet, people have more or less calmed down._

"Well, that's good at least," Ataru noted. "I know mom was worried about leaving with the front door unlocked." Lum gave him an impatient look, so he quickly continued.

_As you probably know, we're back in school already. There's a lot more work now since we have to take entrance exams at the end of the year. We've already had a few practice exams, and they aren't fun, believe me._

_Most of the old gang is back in the same class again. Appropriately enough we're in class 3-4 this year. Unlucky numbers seem to follow us no matter if Ataru is here or not. Chibi and Kakugari actually got placed in another homeroom, but Perm doesn't seem to mind as much as I thought he would. Mendou is still here too, and they seem to be much friendlier to each other than they used to be. I guess both of them are a bit lonely. Plus they aren't competing for your attention anymore, Lum._

_Onsen-Mark-sensei tried to act like he was happy that you two were gone, but he looked pretty sad for a long while. I think he gets bored in English class as well without all the distractions._

"Yeah, right," Ataru interjected, stopping his reading once again. "Onsen-Mark hated my guts."

"I don't think he really did, Darling," Lum protested. "You just got on his nerves a lot."

_I'm not going to say what's going one with everyone else, because I wanted them to tell you how they were doing themselves. As for me, I'm doing well. Inaba and I have been dating for a while now, and I really think he might be the one (Inaba, if you are reading this, you are in big trouble). He is a bit scatterbrained, but he's really sincere and nice, not to mention very handsome. His work keeps him busy, so I don't see him nearly enough, but when he is around I'm really happy._

_I hope things are going as well with you two. We were all really surprised when you got so lovey-dovey with each other after your absence last spring. I guess nothing stays the same forever though. _

_Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough. I'm sure you two have better things to do up there. I'll be hoping for your safe return to Tomobiki someday, but until then try not to fight too much. And Lum, please take good care of Ataru, I know he's an idiot, but he's a really sweet guy underneath. I'm certain you've figured that out by now._

_Yours truly,_

_Miyake Shinobu_

That was a nice letter," Lum said, smiling. "I'm glad she's happy with Inaba."

"Yeah," Ataru agreed distantly. "He's a good guy."

"Are you ok, Darling?" she asked, noticing his shift in mood.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, setting the letter carefully aside. "Shinobu's been my friend since elementary school you know."

"I know," Lum replied. "She's a really good friend."

Ataru smiled sadly and picked up the next one. "This one's from Perm," he told her.

_Hey Ataru, Lum-chan,_

_I hope everything's going well with you guys. Things are pretty boring here. Are you two coming back soon? I hope so, Chibi and Kakugari are a bit too much sometimes. Can you believe they stuck them in another homeroom? I don't have anyone to goof off with during class anymore. Mendou's ok, but you know how stuck up he is sometimes. Plus he doesn't pal around like we did, he's always really serious during class time._

_Not that we have enough time to really goof off. I'm trying to get my grades up, my parents are really on my case about that. Are you guys in school there? I hope that it's not as hard as this stuff we're doing. I'm pretty lost sometimes._

_Hey, Ataru, are you treating Lum-chan well? She's way too good for you, you know. You should be grateful she puts up with you. Ha ha, I'm just joking with you. I'll bet that made you mad though, didn't it? _

_Seriously though, come back soon. Everybody misses you guys._

_Your friend, _

_Perm_

"That guy," Ataru said irritably, tossing the letter aside. "Thinks he's hilarious."

"Aw, he really misses you, Darling," Lum said, wrapping an arm around him.

The next letter was elegantly labeled _Sakuranbo_. Ataru was ready to rip it to shreds, but Lum snatched it out of his hands.

"I don't even want to know what that doom spouting pest has to say," Ataru protested. "I just know it's going to be bad portents this and ill omens that."

"It's rude not to even read it," Lum told him, opening it herself. "Be quiet and I'll read this one."

_Dear Friends,_

_How is the day finding you? I hope well. _

_Ataru, the town's bad spirits seem to have died down since you left. It's not leaving me much work to do, so I would appreciate it if you returned. My niece is too stingy to give me enough food, so I am reduced to relying on the kindness of Mendou's family far too often. _

_Lum, please be very cautious. Dark clouds gather around Ataru, and if you are not careful you will be drawn into his ill fortune as well. I am not able to tell what lays in wait for you two right now, but I have a bad feeling about it._

_Perhaps you should pray?_

_Cherry_

"Ok, sorry, sorry," Lum said, tearing the note in half herself. "You were right."

Ataru muttered several dark things about the monk. "Told you so," he said, picking up the next letter in the stack. "That pest has never had anything pleasant to say."

"This one's from Sakura-sensei!" Ataru crowed. Lum glared at him but let him read it.

_Greetings Moroboshi, Lum-chan,_

_I hope that this letter reaches you in good health and spirits. I know you must be having a difficult time after being uprooted like that. _

_A new school year has begun. I am happy to say that is has been a peaceful one so far. No explosions or fires whatsoever. My job as a school nurse has never been as relaxing as it is now. _

_Tsubame and I are planning to hold our wedding in a few months. I do not know how your situation is, but if you are able to return by then, of course you are both invited. I'll warn you right now, Moroboshi, if you don't behave yourself I'll toss you out in the street. Lum-chan, I trust you are keeping a sharp eye on that miscreant._

_Your old English teacher, Onsen-Mark, seems to be a lot more depressed lately. Between learning of my engagement and your absence, he's simply not the same man he once was. Perhaps if you return you can be nicer to him, because he's really not a bad fellow, just rather hopeless._

_I find myself at a loss of things to say. Things are very calm here and nothing much has happened since you two disappeared. I wonder if one or both of you is a catalyst of some sort. The presence of evil spirits has been at an all time low lately, and while that is also relaxing, it appears to vex Uncle. He is attempting to eat me out of house and home. _

_I noticed the few last times we met that you two appeared to be growing up quite a bit. While I am glad, I must caution you not to grow up too fast. And if your relationship is progressing along like it was, try to be patient with each other and really listen. I've been trying to do that more with Tsubame and it really does help._

_May good luck be with you,_

_Sakura_

"So she's finally getting married to that twit," Ataru mused aloud. "Honestly, she could do a lot better."

"Is that right?" Lum asked dryly, giving him a suspicious look. "I think he's a perfectly nice guy, even if he is a bit off."

"It really does sound like things are quiet back home," he continued, glancing nervously at Lum. She was still giving him a bit of an odd look.

"Yes, I suppose that's because you aren't there to interfere with other people's relationships," Lum told him haughtily.

Ataru narrowed his eyes. "What's your problem?" he asked irritably.

"I don't have a problem," she replied while wrapping an arm possessively around his. "Read the next letter already."

"Ok," Ataru responded neutrally, realizing she was in one of her irrationally jealous moods. "Here's one of your biggest fans."

_Dearest Lum-san, Moroboshi_

_I trust that you are both well? I was distressed to hear of your untimely departure from Earth, but I understand it was quite unavoidable. I suppose you are wondering what is going on in my life, correct? Things are going well, very well you might say. _

_Asuka-san and I have been spending a great deal of time together. She is gradually improving when it comes to being in the presence of other men. I suspect Moroboshi's absence is instrumental to that. Between enjoying her company, studying, and preparing for my eventual prestigious position as head of the Mendou Conglomerate, I find myself with little spare time these days. But such is the burden placed upon men of my stature._

Lum giggled. "He's as full of himself as ever, isn't he, Darling?"

"Sounds like it," Ataru responded before continuing.

_Moroboshi, you had better be treating Lum-san well. _

"Why do I keep getting all this flak from everyone?" Ataru demanded angrily.

Lum wiggled up and kissed him on the cheek. "I have no idea, Darling," she told him innocently.

Ataru gave her a look; she certainly wasn't excluded from his complaint.

"Keep reading," she commanded.

_I am assuming of course that she is still choosing to stay by your side for some unfathomable reason._

"That damned snob," Ataru growled out.

"Darling, I think he's just trying to get your goat," Lum told him dubiously. She hoped that was the case at least.

_Lum-san, please be patient with that scoundrel, I've come to believe that you two are likely meant to be together. He was showing signs of real improvement the last few weeks of last spring. Perhaps someday he will be able to pull off appearing to be a respectable man. _

"See," she interrupted. "I think that was a roundabout compliment."

"Sounded like a thinly veiled insult to me," Ataru grumped, but finished the last lines.

_In any case, we all await your return. There is no disputing that there is a certain air of excitement missing these days. As much as I hate to admit it, even Moroboshi appears to be missed by some. _

_Respectfully,_

_Mendou Shutaro_

"I think Mendou's trying to say that he misses you too," Lum said happily.

"That'll be the day," Ataru responded, putting the letter aside. "One last letter to go." He picked the last one up and read the name. "And it's from Ryuu-chan!"

"You seem a lot more excited about the letters from the girls," Lum noted, her eyebrow raised.

"Maybe that's because the guys all give me a hard time," Ataru retorted.

"So do the girls, Darling," Lum reminded him.

Ataru grumbled and started reading.

Yo,

_I'm not really all that good at this letter writing thing. It's not something I've had to do much before, so sorry if it doesn't turn out right. I want you guys to know, I really appreciate all the good times we had together. It really was fun. I know I'm not exactly a normal girl, thanks to my idiotic old man, but you were always there for me._

Ataru looked up, slightly perplexed. "'Girl' is actually scratched out and has 'guy' written over top of it."

_This is embarrassing, but could you tell me how Benten is doing? I mean, I don't really care or anything, but we never did resolve who was the better fighter. Tell her I'll be ready anytime for that rematch. Don't mention that I was asking about her though. _

_Well, that's all I really had to say. I told Shinobu I wasn't good at this kind of thing, but she insisted. Good luck out there, I guess. _

_Ryuunosuke Fujinami_

Ataru paused and frowned. "There's a note at the bottom too, looks like someone else wrote it." He squinted, trying to make out the rougher handwriting.

_Please excuse my son, he's a bit stupid. Could you please ask this Benten if she is looking to get married? Ryuunosuke-kun could really use a good bride to help him around the shop after I'm gone. _

_P.S. Are there any oceans where you are? If so, what do you think the chances of a couple of men getting a teashop going there are? We're always looking for new locations. Hope everything is going well with you._

_Fujinami_

"Ryuu-chan didn't double-check her letter before she gave it to Shinobu," Ataru guessed.

"Seems that way," Lum agreed with a sigh.

Ataru folded the non-destroyed letters back up carefully and placed them back in the envelope. "That was really kind of everyone," he commented reflectively. "I asked Inaba if he could deliver a letter back to them, and he said he'd try in a few days."

"That's a good idea, Darling," Lum agreed. "I should write one as well."

"Oh, I was hoping you would write one from both of us," Ataru replied offhand.

"Don't be lazy, Darling," she scolded. "They all took the time to write us, the least we can do is both respond."

"Fine," he said, faking irritation. He suddenly grinned. "I can't wait to write to Sakura-sensei, and Shinobu-chan, and Ryuu-chan…"

"I'm proofreading anything you write," Lum replied calmly, giving him an appraising look. Darling had been good for a really long time now, and it was disconcerting that just a few letters had him in such a mood. Perhaps she needed to remind Darling what he already had here next to him.

Ataru fought to keep himself from chuckling. She was obviously still jealous. As much as that could get annoying, Lum hadn't had any reason to be jealous in a while, and oddly enough he missed seeing it a bit. He just hap to keep her from crossing the fine line into either anger or hurt feelings.

"Oh, ok," he said in his most happily idiotic voice. "I wonder what I'll write." He pretended to be intently considering it.

"Darling, why don't you think about that tomorrow?" Lum asked, pressing herself tighter against his arm.

He didn't look at her, knowing she was trying to draw his attention back to her. "I should probably get to work on it, after all we don't know when Inaba is coming back."

She frowned. "Aren't you getting tired, Darling?"

"Not really," he idly replied, keeping a dumb grin on his face.

She blew into his ear. "I'm not either," she quietly confided. "Do you want to go to bed now?"

His careful façade started to crack, but he wasn't admitting defeat just yet. "Maybe in a little while," he replied as if distracted.

"Darling?" she whispered urgently, then ran her lips down his neck. "Put that stuff away and come to bed already."

Ataru swallowed hard. Lum knew just how to push his buttons. "I…uh…um," he stuttered, unable to refuse.

"I'm feeling lonely," she pouted, batting her eyes at him.

That was the final straw for Ataru. Within minutes the lights blinked out in the tiger striped UFO.


	26. The Best Laid Plans

"So, they're finally making their move?"

"Yes sir, reports are coming in that the majority of the Second Fleet has been sighted on their way towards the Sol system." Lt. Commander Jirettai reported worriedly. "Boss, what are your orders?"

High Warlord Invader, Supreme Commander of Oniboshi's Third Fleet, had no ready answer. "What's the current status of the other Urusein fleets?" he asked.

"Best we can tell, First fleet remains split between their stations around Uru and the blockade around this system," Jirettai promptly replied. "Fourth Fleet and the remainder of Second Fleet's location are unknown."

"What do you mean, unknown?" Invader growled out.

Jirettai, used to Invader's temper, was nonplussed. "Sorry boss, but we've not been able to pin them down." He looked away. "Fukujin's not been able to do any better at locating them."

The warlord sighed. Their impromptu intelligence network had been falling apart bit by bit since the succession from Uru. The few people they had in the higher ranks on Uru had been the first to disappear. Best he could tell sweeping changes were going through the government and those not trusted were being ousted all around.

"I'm going to need a few minutes," Invader replied wearily. He stomped off towards his chambers, but stopped before exiting the bridge. Glancing back, he cracked a sarcastic smile. "They would have waited until the week of my daughter's wedding, wouldn't they?"

The Lt. Commander grinned back to his superior. "Those bastards never did have any sense of decency."

Invader continued on his way, his mind racing. When all this trouble started, he'd had hope they could break the blockade once Uru was occupied with Earth. However with Uru having waited and first built up their three remaining fleets, things didn't look nearly as promising. Plus their lack of a reliable intelligence network could prove fatal.

Entering his private rooms, Invader flipped on the viewscreen and put in a private call. A slender and elegant looking black haired man with long whiskers soon appeared on the screen. He smiled politely at the Oni warlord.

"Greetings, great Dragon King Munetsuchi," Invader respectfully greeted the Fukujin sovereign.

The king waved his hand irritably. "No need for such formalities, Invader." He leaned in towards the screen. "I assume since you are contacting me directly that Uru is stirring, correct?"

"Yeah," Invader grimly replied. "A fleet's been spotted on its way to Earth."

"What's your decision?" Munetsuchi calmly asked.

The warlord sighed heavily. "I don't really have much choice. This is the best chance to break that blockade that we're probably going to get." He looked down. "We don't know where their fourth fleet is. They will likely show up once this begins." Looking the Fukujin leader in the eyes, Invader asked the question he had called to ask. "Can I count on your support?"

"We'll do what we can," the king responded. "I can't leave Fukujin completely unguarded, but we'll spare as many ships as we can."

"I'm grateful," Invader replied humbly. "Anything you can spare will be of much help."

"We have a vested interest in this fight too," Munetsuchi replied. "Not to mention that my daughter would never let me live it down if I didn't help."

"All right then," Invader replied, his decision made. "I expect we'll be engaging within two hours. Is that enough time?"

"We've been expecting this," the king replied. "We'll be there."

Invader bowed his head briefly and disconnected. This was it then, there was no turning back anymore. He quickly made one more important call, then headed back towards the bridge. Third Fleet was about to move.

* * *

In a small café near the spaceport, the soon to be married couple were enjoying a quick lunch together.

"So that's everything?" Ataru asked, looking worn out.

"Yep," Lum chirped happily. She began ticking off items on her fingers. "The flowers and cake are arranged, we've got catering and music taken care of, and the guest lists are finalized."

He wondered where Lum got all her energy. Even though her mother was taking care of most of the details, they'd still had to do a good bit of legwork themselves. Lum's idea of a nice little outdoor ceremony had ballooned into a major event thanks to her family and even several government officials butting in. Regardless, Lum was very picky about certain details and had preferred handling those parts herself.

"Good," he replied. "I don't think I could have survived much more checking around for the perfect this and that."

"Oh, Darling, it wasn't that bad," Lum protested. "I just like things to be a certain way."

"No kidding," he noted dryly. "I think we hit every florist on the planet."

Lum gave him a patient smile. Darling really had been helpful, and he hadn't even complained much the entire time. "Thank you, Darling," she said quietly, her eyes shining.

Ataru grumped a bit more to himself, ignoring her occasional giggle. He strengthened his resolve to make it through the entire ceremony this time, if for no other reason than to never have to go through the ordeal of getting everything ready again.

Finishing his food, Ataru glanced out the window. "Sure is getting busy out there," he said, looking towards the port. "Looks like a lot of ships are going up."

Lum followed his gaze and frowned. "Yeah, there are," she replied. "And a lot of them are interceptors." She glared at the sky. "I think something's up."

Ataru's face fell, knowing what that probably meant. "You think they're getting ready to fight?"

"Don't know," she answered, pushing the last of her lunch aside. "We'd probably better get home though."

Quickly departing the café, they set out for their UFO. They were only about halfway there when the ground started rumbling. It began as a dull vibration, then started growing more intense.

"What the hell is that?" Ataru asked, looking wildly around.

"Look," Lum merely replied, pointing into the distance.

As they watched, the towering _Minokichi_ slowly began to rise, lifting off for the first time since it had settled on the planet. It appeared to struggle for a moment, then with a sudden burst of speed the great ship climbed smoothly into the sky, disappearing from their sight in mere seconds.

"I guess that confirms it," Lum sighed. "They're going to attack the blockade."

"I hope they can pull it off," Ataru said, forcing his gaze away from the sky. Seeing Lum's worried face, he took her hand and told her, "Come on Lum, let's get going."

She nodded, comforted by his reassuring presence. "Ok, Darling," she replied. "I hope I can get a hold of Mom."

* * *

They had a message waiting for them when they arrived. Lum started it and wasn't surprised to see her mother on the screen.

"Lum, I hope you get this message soon," she said, smiling confidently. "I just heard from your father that Earth's invasion is starting, so the fleet is going to take this chance to attack." She hesitated for a moment, then continued.

"They are short of people with real medical training still, so I volunteered to go up with the medical frigate. I'm sorry that I won't be there for you, but you have Ataru, and I'm sure he'll keep you safe." She frowned abruptly. "We may have to reschedule your wedding, Lum. It'll depend on how this turns out." Smiling once more, she waved goodbye. "We both love you, Lum, hopefully we'll be back home soon. Tell Ataru we love him too."

As the message ended, Lum sank down to her knees, tears starting to flow freely from her eyes.

"What did she say?" Ataru demanded. Lum managed to get out the essentials of the message as he settled down in the floor next to her. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he rested his forehead against hers and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"Hey, don't cry like that," he told her sternly. "Your mother's on the Minokichi, right? Oyuki said they wouldn't even fire on it."

Lum sniffled. "They aren't supposed to, but that doesn't mean they couldn't," she told him, a fresh wave of tears begining. "I'm really scared for Dad too."

Ataru gazed into her frightened eyes, not sure how to calm her down. He settled for just holding her tight and murmuring the occasional soothing comment in her ear. At last her sobs quietened and she stopped shaking in his embrace.

"Darling," she finally murmured. "Please don't ever leave me. I don't think I could stand it."

"Don't say such silly things," Ataru replied gently. "I'm not going anywhere."

She held onto him for a long time, unwilling to leave his warm embrace. Finally he managed to extract himself from her arms long enough to shift the both of them over to the couch and turn on the news.

They weren't reporting anything the two didn't already know, just that the fleet had mobilized. There was no mention of the impending invasion of his home planet, and Ataru realized it likely was not widely known yet.

Footage of the distinctive Minokichi leaving orbit trailing several war ships popped up soon, sending Lum into another fit of tears. Ataru hastily turned the screen off and did his best to comfort her again.

* * *

Several miles away at Lum's Parents' home, Tsuukai was watching the same scenes along side her husband. Ten, securely nested between his parents, watched the news just as intently as they did.

"Do you think we should really let Ten-chan watch this?" Hinoban asked as the ships sailed towards battle. He glanced down at his young son worriedly, not eager to introduce him to the realities of warfare.

"Ten-chan's fine," his mother replied, not taking her eyes off the screen. "He's a big boy and this is an important day for all Oni." She looked down at her boy. "You're ok to watch this, aren't you, Ten-chan?"

"Yes, Ma'am Ten responded meekly, hoping they wouldn't send him away. He was a bit scared, but would never admit it.

"See, honey, he's ok," Tsuukai replied glibly.

* * *

Nearly an hour after setting out, the main part of Oniboshi's fleet regrouped with the last of the ships stationed in the outer reaches of the system and proceeded onwards. A variety of ships formed the third fleet, but the backbone was undoubtedly the great battleships and the dedicated carriers they defended. Leading the pack was Invader's great flagship the _Doji_, a huge vessel one and a half times the size of any other battleship.

It wasn't long before the first Urusein ships came into sight. The Third fleets movements had not gone unobserved, and now every ship in the blockade was reforming into a fearsome force to counter them.

"This is it, boys," Invader called out over the open communications channel. "Let's make this fast and hard. The less forces they can get built up, the better a chance we have." He paused for a long tense moment, then gave the order to advance.

Interceptors launched forth in a great cloud, mostly emerging from the carriers but quite a few also coming from the battleships' small bays. They quickly formed defensive formations around the perimeter of the fleet and stood by, ready for when the Uruseins launched their own inevitable attack.

On Invader's command, a massive volley was let loose upon the oncoming blockading ships. Hundreds of shells and laser blasts hurled across the void between them, savagely ripping into the enemy fleet. A few smaller ships in front were destroyed outright; several more were crippled.

The response was quick and merciless, but the Urusein ships were at a slight disadvantage and they knew it. With a good part of their fleet guarding their home system, the Oniboshi fleet had a numerical advantage that would not be easy to overcome. Desperate calls for reinforcements had went out as soon as the Third Fleet had begun moving, and they could only hope that they would arrive soon.

Interceptors were soon swarming across the space between them. While the Oniboshi forces stayed close to their own ships to defend them, the desperate Uruseins were rushing in blindly, hoping they could disable a few ships and regain the advantage. They were met with solid resistance and both sides soon were desperately engaged with the other.

As the minutes quickly passed, more and more ships on both sides began limping away. Even the _Doji _showed some light damage before long, though it never stopped its relentless attacks.

"We appear to be winning," Jirettai observed from his position next to Invader. "I estimate about twenty percent of their fleet is already in no position to fight."

"What's our fleet's condition," Invader demanded, his eyes never leaving the battle.

"We've not lost too many. However the Heavy Carriers _Lamu_ and _Kozuna_ have both suffered heavy damage."

Invader cursed. The lightly armed carriers were not acceptable losses if they were going to be able to keep the interceptor fleet in fighting condition.

"Withdraw them to the rear," he ordered hesitantly. "Keep them well back and make sure they are covered from interceptor attack."

As the Lt. Commander relayed his orders, Invader turned his attention back to the enemy. They were begining to back off now, likely waiting for their reinforcements. He didn't intend to give them that chance. Every one of them he could take out now would lessen the final forces he would have to face.

"Advance," he told the helmsman. The officer grinned and the Doji moved forward, the other ships of the fleet quickly following suite.

The communications station suddenly lit up with calls. "We're getting an urgent message from the commander of the incoming Fukujin forces!" the communications officer called out.

"Patch them here," Invader ordered.

Bishamonten, one of the Fukujin high commanders and second only to the Dragon King, appeared on the screen. "Invader, we've located the Fourth Fleet!" he exclaimed urgently.

"Let them come," Invader rumbled. "We're doing alright still, most likely we can crush them between us."

"They're not heading for your position," Bishamonten replied, cutting Invader off. "They appear to be heading directly for Planet Oniboshi!"

"What?" Invader demanded. "Those cowards!"

"We've altered course to follow them, but they've got a good head start," the Fukujin commander told him. "You need to try to get back there, it won't be more than forty minutes before they reach Oniboshi. We've already warned your planet's government, but they told us there wasn't anything they could do."

"Damn it!" Invader responded, smashing a fist into his console. "Alright, get here as quick as you can." He closed the channel, then turned to Jirettai. "You heard that, let's break off and head back. Recall all the interceptors."

"Sir, that isn't advisable," his Lt. Commander protested. "If we head back now our rear will be unguarded and the carriers are going to fall behind." He paused for a moment, "Besides, you know we aren't going to get another opportunity like this, sir."

Invader growled. "What am I supposed to do?" he spit out. "Oniboshi's safety is what we are fighting for in the first place."

"Even with Fukujin coming we aren't going to be in any shape to face the Fourth Fleet if we don't take care of these guys first, boss," Jirettai told him hesitantly. "And they don't have any reason to stay put out here if we start heading back."

Invader knew his Lt. Commander was right, but that didn't make it any less infuriating. He stared out the forward windows for a moment, trying desperately to make the hardest decision of his career.

The decision was made for him when dozens of ships began pouring out of subspace behind the blockade ships. From their markings it appeared reinforcements from both the Second and First fleet had arrived. They were now officially outnumbered.

"Fine, strike that," Invader growled quietly. "We make our stand here and hope Fukujin gets there before things get too bad." His stomach churned as he thought of the millions of citizens sitting defenseless back on Oniboshi, including his own family. He desperately tried to put his expansive military training to good use so that he could think rationally.

"Alright," the warlord finally commanded. "Bring the battleships into a wedge formation, we're on point. We drive through, and we scatter these bastards." His eyes narrowed as he looked at the enemy. "They want to play hardball, we'll shove this damn fleet right down their throats."

* * *

Warning messages flashed across every viewscreen on Oniboshi, alerting the citizens of the incoming attack. Across the planet people waited hopelessly for the fleet's arrival. The planet still had no shelters, no defenses, and only a meager handful of interceptors left. A few ships lifted off, hoping they could avoid both the main battle and the incoming forces, but most simply stayed put and waited.

Ataru stared glumly at the screen for a long time before making his decision. "Lum," he said, "Are you ok to pilot the ship right now?"

She looked up weakly at him. It hadn't been long between the time when she had recovered from worrying about her parents and when the viewscreen had come to life to display the emergency broadcast. She felt like just curling up until it was all over, but nodded.

"Good," Ataru replied, his voice unusually serious. "I figure right here near the spaceport is probably going to be one of the worst places to be." He thought for a moment. "Dad is working somewhere in the capital, and Mom was helping out somewhere, but I don't know exactly where either of them would be." He looked pained, but continued. "I think we should grab Jariten's family first and then go looking for my parents." It was much further to the capital than to Lum's former home.

Lum looked at him with wide eyes, unused to Darling being so decisive. She knew he was both clever and a fast thinker, but it wasn't qualities he openly displayed often. She quickly decided to trust his judgment.

"Ok, Darling," she agreed, running over to the controls. "If you can let them know we're coming, I'll get us there as fast as I can."

* * *

Based on the time given that the Uruseins would arrive, Ataru figured they had plenty of time to pick them up and then go searching. He figured with all the uninhabited parts of the planet, it would be no problem to hide the ship somewhere that no one would look. Neither he nor the rest of the planet had any way of knowing that a small division of fast Urusein scout ships was already closing in on the planet, well ahead of the main force.

Their UFO had almost reached Ten's parents when the first Urusein ship spotted them on radar. "_Ship identified as civilian, registered to Warlord Invader's daughter_," one of the bridge officers informed the captain. "_What should we do with it_?"

"_Excellent_," the Urusein captain replied. "_We capture her alive, and we'll get a bonus for sure_." He pointed at the quickly moving dot. "_Use the tractor beam to grab her ship. We'll force a docking and yank her out. The High Council will no doubt want her unharmed for the execution._"

Far below them, Lum halted the ship just above her parent's house. "Looks like they aren't outside yet," she said with a frown. "I'll go get them, Darling, you just stay put here." She popped open the hatch and flew out, heading from the front door of the house.

Ataru remained standing near the controls, hoping she would be able to get them aboard quickly. Every second they wasted here was one less he could use to find his parents.

Almost immediately after she flew away the console behind him suddenly lit up red across the board. He frowned and looked up at the screen, trying to figure out what the ship was trying to say. Suddenly he was thrown to the floor as the UFO began moving.

"What the hell?" he yelled out. Rushing over to the hatch to try and call Lum back, he was again thrown to the floor as whatever invisible force just as suddenly released its hold on the ship. Crawling the rest of the way, he managed to get to the open door.

"_Sir, it appears the target has just exited her ship_."

"_Good, that'll save us some time_," the Urusein captain replied. "_Go ahead and pull her up._"

The officer in control of the tractor beam smoothly released the UFO he had just snagged and set the girl as their new target.

Ataru watched from the open hatch helplessly as Lum's descent towards the ground suddenly halted and she was thrown up past him at high speeds. Her piercing scream echoed in his ears as she disappeared into the sky above. He called out to her, but she was already too far away to hear.

A faint glimmering dot in the sky above caught his attention. Remembering being abducted by Lum once or twice in the past, Ataru quickly figured out that some other ship must have grabbed her. He quickly closed the hatch and rushed back to the viewscreen. He'd been tinkering around with learning the ship's non-navigational controls off and on for months, so it wasn't too hard for him to figure out focusing the external cameras on the ship above.

Ataru zoomed just in time to see the tiny dot that was Lum disappear into a hatch on the underneath of a tiger striped ship. Cursing, he was about to call for help on every channel he could when he noticed the ship moving swiftly away.

No time. There was no telling where the ship was heading, and he couldn't risk losing it. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Ataru stepped over to the controls. He'd seen Lum do this a million times, but actually trying to maneuver the craft himself was quite difficult. The UFO pitched wildly as it moved slowly along in the direction the ship was moving.

High above him, the officer watching the sensor array frowned. "_Sir, that girl's ship still appears to be moving. I believe it's following us_." He watched the UFO's meandering path for a few more seconds. "_I don't think it's piloted though, it's too erratic. Maybe she has a homing device linked to it_?"

"_Search her, but go ahead and grab the ship too," _the captain ordered_. "I'm not taking the chance on it being some idiot trying to ram us."_ He grinned. "_Maybe we'll get lucky and catch another traitor for the fellows back home_."

"Yes sir," another officer said, homing in on the craft's signal once again. "_We have a lock on it_."

The UFO was already lurching so much that Ataru didn't notice when it when he was caught for the second time by the tractor beam. His first indication that anything was wrong was when the ship's flight suddenly smoothed out perfectly and the red lights once again lit up nearby. He didn't know whether to be pissed that he was caught or relieved that he was not going to lose the Urusein ship, as he had feared.

Seeing that the UFO was quickly being drawn closer to the enemy ship, Ataru started thinking his hardest. He remembered the contempt he had been shown on his visit to Uru and didn't figure soldiers would treat him any better. Glancing around wildly for something to defend himself with, his eye fell upon a toolbox sitting in the corner of the room.

Leaving the now useless controls, Ataru rooted hurriedly through the box. He knew he didn't have the brawn to take on a soldier straight on, but years of experience told him that he could trick almost anyone.

All that time doing repairs on other ships had paid off. Ataru had one of the wall panels off in less than a minute. Grabbing a couple of items he thought might be useful, he placed them inside and then slid himself carefully in between the conduits and pipes that lined the narrow compartment. Before placing the panel back in its spot behind him, he took a quick look around, making sure he had left no easily visible evidence of his work.

A few minutes later a rough shudder told Ataru that his UFO had made contact with the larger craft. The familiar sound of a cutting torch soon met his ears. He fought down the fear building up inside his gut and waited, desperately hoping that they weren't sending too many oni in after him.


	27. A Difficult Choice

Lum glared as an oni soldier entered the small room she had been locked in. She didn't recognize this one as either of the two who had roughly tossed in here after she had been brought on board. To her silent horror this one smiled lewdly at her as he shut the door behind him.

"_Well, aren't you a pretty one_," he commented, looking her up and down. "_I don't usually get to search such cute girls_."

"_Search me for what_?" she spit out, her voice dripping with venom.

"_The remote you're using to make that UFO follow us_," the soldier replied casually as he advanced upon her.

Lum's eyes went wide. Darling wouldn't have been that stupid, would he? As soon as she asked herself, she already knew the answer. Luckily it didn't sound like these people knew he was on board, however.

With her hands securely restrained behind her back, Lum didn't have many options. She decided to tell the truth. "_The remote's in my bikini top_," she replied meekly, pointing downwards with her chin. "_Left cup_."

"_Well, that certainly makes things pleasant_," he said happily, leaning over and starting to pull at the top buttons of her dress. "_Although if you're lying I'll have to keep searching, you know_."

She smirked, glad she had been wearing dresses more often lately. With the solider distracted with the prospect of getting it unbuttoned, he never suspected what she was planning.

With a growl she lurched forward and sank her teeth deep into the soldier's shoulder. He howled in pain and attempted to dislodge her, but his efforts were in vain. She managed to get her legs securely around his waist and then released him, only to use her new leverage to deliver a devastating head butt into the oni's face.

With a groan his eyes rolled back and he went limp. Lum released him and rose into the air. She glared at the fallen soldier, glad that the pervert had been so easy to take out. Still the impact had given her a massive headache as well, and her jaws were already aching.

The door was the next problem. It had locked behind him, and without her hands it was going to be a bit more difficult to escape. Once again her teeth served her well as she gingerly snatched the keycard from his belt and managed to get it up to the slot that opened the door. Exiting the room quietly, she made sure the room once again locked after the door closed.

Looking down the narrow corridor, she wondered what to do next. Her electrical powers were next to useless on other Oni, and without her hands free she really didn't stand much chance of outmaneuvering anyone. Quickly making a decision to just run for it, she headed for the ship's hold. Hopefully she could figure out how to open the hatch she had been brought in through.

Lum made it to the bay without running into any more trouble, but to her dismay she spotted three more Urusein soldiers kneeling around the large circular hatch in the floor. She slipped through the entranceway and flew high, making sure they didn't spot her.

From her higher vantage point she could see that they appeared to be using a cutting torch on something just below the open hatch. Her heart jumped as she realized what they were cutting into was the roof of her UFO, but there wasn't anything she could do just yet. Planning to strike once they were preoccupied with catching Darling, she settled down in the rafters and waited.

* * *

A loud crash and thud echoed through the ship. From his hiding place Ataru grimaced; that must have been a couple of layers of ceiling and hull falling to the floor. However with Lum foremost in his mind the damage to the UFO was rather unimportant.

A few seconds later he heard voices speaking from inside the ship. From the sound of things there were only two of them. Unable to understand their words, Ataru listened hard for a moment, then felt stupid as he realized they were speaking in the Oni language.

One of the voices faded away, presumably searching in another room. It would have to be now or never. Ataru silently eased the panel aside and stepped out, grateful that the remaining soldier in the room was looking away. The oni was carrying some sort of rifle, so Ataru knew he absolutely had to make his first hit count.

He tightened his grip on the frying pan he had brought with him and crept as quietly as he could towards the Urusein. Bringing the pan back, he swung hard at the back of the oni's head. It connected with a loud clang and the soldier fell dazed to his knees. Ataru swung again and the Oni went down, this time unconscious.

Hearing the noise, the other soldier returned in a hurry. His surprise was evident as he found an Earthling wielding a pan in one hand and his partner's rifle in the other.

"_Where in the hell did you come from, you rat_?" the soldier growled, his hand scrambling for the pistol at his side."

"I wouldn't do that," Ataru warned the Oni as he swung the rifle towards him. "I'm not afraid to shoot." He hoped the oni wouldn't call his bluff. He really didn't know if he would be able to pull the trigger if it came down to it.

The soldier frowned, not understanding Japanese. However the meaning behind the earthling's words was clear. He let the pistol fall from his hand and raised his hands slowly above his head.

Ataru grinned. This was going better than he had hoped. He nodded with his head towards the wall, and the soldier slowly complied. Ataru shifted over and kicked the pistol safely behind him, never taking his eyes off the solider.

"Where's Lum?" Ataru asked, hoping the oni would at least recognize her name.

The soldier looked confused and shrugged, unwilling to give any information. He hoped if he stalled long enough help would arrive.

His ploy worked. The third soldier back in the scout ship was already getting nervous. "_Hey, is everything alright down there_?" he shouted down through the hole.

Ataru's eyes shifted towards the hole for just a second, all the time the Oni needed. Taking a deep breath, he blew a raging stream of fire from his mouth at the Earthling.

Ataru whipped his head back around just in time to see the Oni about to release his breath. Instincts from a hundred fights with Jariten kicked in, and the frying pan went up, expertly blocking the flames from reaching him.

"Hey!" Ataru shouted, now more than a little pissed.

The soldier back in the other ship heard a shout from below. Whatever was down there, he figured that he had better go take a look. Readying his own pistol, he started down through the hole in the UFO below.

A pair of tiger striped boots came down hard on his back, driving him down into the floor of the UFO. The impact threw the gun from his grip and left him too stunned to block a sharp kick to his midsection. However the next time the girl's leg came swinging at him, he was ready. Grabbing her ankle, he managed to toss her away from him.

The soldier frantically looked around for his pistol until he finally noticed the laser rifle aimed at his head. Two of his companions already lay unmoving on the floor behind the earthling, their condition unknown. He froze, certain that he was about to join them.

* * *

Both Ataru's discarded frying pan and the tips of his hair on one side were still lightly charred and smoking. The fire breathing oni had made the mistake of trying to take advantage of the commotion when his comrade and Lum had come crashing down from the ceiling. Ataru had barely managed to shield himself in time. Furious, the earthling had knocked out the breathless oni with a single well-aimed swing of the rifle's stock.

Ataru let out a sigh of relief when he saw that his fiancée was still moving. "Lum," he called out, not taking his eyes off the scared oni soldier on the floor. "Are you hurt?"

Lum managed to get to her feet, wincing as she felt dull pain radiating from her ankle. "I'm fine, Darling," she replied through gritted teeth.

She quickly lifted into the air and edged around the soldier she had been fighting. Once she was safely behind Ataru, she switching to her native tongue and started asking questions.

"_You_," she growled at the final soldier on the floor. "_What's holding my ship in place_?" She knew the tractor beam couldn't be holding the ship so steady for this long.

"_It's a magnetic clamping device_," he answered fearfully.

"_Can you release it from up there_?" she asked, her voice grim.

"_It can only be released from the bridge_," he replied, hoping she wouldn't see through his lie.

"_Then I guess you're of no further use to us_," she snarled.

The soldier whimpered. "_Ok, ok, there's a console in the hold that can release it too_," he blubbered. "_Please don't kill me_."

She glared menacingly at the Urusein, her fangs bared. "Darling, keep this guy covered. I'm going to go up there and see if I can get the ship loose."

Ataru glanced at her. "How in the hell are you going to do anything with your arms like that?" he demanded.

"We've not go any other choices, Darling," she replied. "We've got to get out of here before anyone else comes along."

"Can't you zap those off?" he asked, glancing at her restraints.

"They're made to hold oni," Lum responded, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hold on a sec," he said, stepping back towards his toolbox in the corner. Ataru kept the gun trained on the oni at all times as he rummaged through the toolbox by feel. Quickly locating the tiny but powerful handheld cutting tool they used for delicate work, he returned to Lum's side.

"Spread your arms apart as far as you can," he told her. She complied and he nervously starting grinding at the thin band of material holding the two wristbands together while keeping an eye on their still frightened prisoner. After a minute of careful work the material snapped, leaving her arms free again.

She quickly scooped up both of the fallen pistols and pointed them at the soldier as well. "Thanks, Darling," she said, her voice still angry. "I'm going to try to get these idiots off the ship now so we can go. You just stay ready in case anything goes wrong."

Gesturing at the two unconscious soldiers with one of the pistols, she started barking out orders to the remaining Urusein. "_I want you to carry those two back up to your ship_," she told him calmly. "_I'm going to follow you up, and if you make any wrong moves, you aren't going to have time to regret it_."

The oni nervously nodded his head, finally daring to hope that he wasn't going to be shot. With three guns now trained on him he carefully gathered up his two comrades and managed to heave them both up with him into the Urusein ship. Lum followed cautiously behind, never letting her guard down.

Once they were back in the hold, she had him place his companions aside and go shut down the magnetic device. Standing by the hatch, she saw her UFO break away, now hovering along under its own power. Quickly gesturing at the soldier to get out of the way, she fired a series of shots into the controls, guaranteeing they wouldn't be easily used again.

"_Thanks_, y_ou've been a big help_," she said with a tight smile. She hovered out over the open hatch while keeping her pistols ready, wary that the soldier might try something stupid at the last minute.

Just as she was about to fly out, a pair of strong hands grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. One of the two soldiers Ataru had knocked out earlier had finally recovered, and he wasn't taking any chances on her getting away.

One of the pistols fell from her grip, sailing down towards the planet far below. She screamed and desperately tried to raise the other one, but the soldier's grip was too strong. She struggled as hard as she could, but knew it was useless. His comrade, seeing that she couldn't fire, quickly regained his courage and started heading over to help disarm her.

A beam of light suddenly came through the open hatch below them and stabbed into the ceiling above. The soldier holding her yelled out in pain and released her. He desperately threw himself away from the hatch, clutching at his badly singed shoulder.

Taking her chance, Lum headed out of the ship as fast as she could and headed towards the UFO. To her surprise she found Darling precariously balanced next to the gaping hole in the top of their ship, his rifle ready to fire again. She frantically waved for him to get back inside. Following him in, she flew straight for the controls.

"That's twice you've saved me now, Darling," she called out as she threw the ship in reverse. Ataru remained peering out the hole, making sure no one came in after her.

"I'm just really glad I used to play that shooting game back at the arcade," he replied weakly, his hands shaking. As the ship pulled away, he sank to his knees, putting the gun aside. He'd been scared to death of hitting her, but there'd just been no other way.

* * *

The Urusein captain cursed bitterly when the news came in that Invader's daughter had escaped. He briefly considered chasing after her, but there just wasn't enough time left. The main fleet would soon be arriving, and he couldn't waste any more effort on capturing a single prisoner.

By all accounts the Fukujin forces weren't far behind either, and he needed to make sure the Oniboshi's didn't have any surprises waiting. Reluctantly he gave the order to continue towards the planet's main spaceport, their assigned destination.

"_Listen up_," he called over the intercom. "_I will not be made a laughingstock because of a few idiot's incomprehensible failure_." He glared around the bridge. "_Not a word of this gets out_." He straightened his collar and stared out the window. A mere girl escaping a military vessel like this was ridiculous. He fully intended to make sure the four soldiers involved paid for their incompetence.

* * *

Invader growled as yet another missile managed to strike the hull of the_ Doji_. This seemingly endless battle was wearing on his nerves. Both sides had done a good amount of damage, but neither seemed to be able to gain any real advantage.

"Reports are coming in from Oniboshi," the communications officer called out. "There have been sightings of a few advance scout ships from the Fourth Fleet."

"Already?" Invader grumbled incredulously. "How long until the main force arrives?"

"Less than fifteen," the reply came.

"Damn it," the warlord muttered. "Jirettai!" he called impatiently.

The Lt. Commander came running over. "Yeah, boss?"

"What's the status of the fleet?" Invader asked more calmly.

"We've got three carriers and two battleships too badly damaged to continue, and we've lost five cruisers," Jirettai reported. "Also we've lost nearly a third of our interceptor forces."

Invader sighed. "We can't keep this up much longer," he quietly mumbled to no one in particular. His initial plan to scatter the enemy's lines hadn't gone well, and they'd been forced to regroup again and again.

Taking a look at the array of view screens watching the entire fleet, he was relieved to see the familiar white and red _Minokichi_ was still unharmed. He mused that they must be busy back there, judging from the number of shuttles ferrying the injured back for treatment.

"Ok," he finally said, the confidence back in his voice. "We're going to make another advance. Give the order for all able ships to form up."

Jirettai grinned. "We'll get them this time for sure."

* * *

Lum stared into the sky intently, on the lookout for any sign that they had been followed. Seeing none, she hopped down from the tree branch she had been sitting on and flew down towards the battered hull of the ship.

"I think we're safe for now, Darling," she called out as she rejoined him.

Ataru looked up from his inspection of the damage to the roof. "That's good," he replied wearily. Looking around the tiny clearing they had made an emergency landing in, he sighed. Even if they could get whatever was broken repaired, getting the ship unwedged from the trees would require quite a bit of work.

Only a few minutes after they had escaped the scout ship it had become evident something was very wrong. The UFO had started shuddering side to side, and their speed had dropped drastically. Lum had fought with the controls as long as she could, but finally they'd had to sit their craft down in the middle of a forest. The clearing had looked large enough from the air, but they'd discovered it was just a bit to small to hold their ship.

Several trees had already snapped under the weight, but two of the ship's landing gear remained several feet in the air. To top things off, sections of two large trees had landed on top of them, pinning the ship securely in place.

Lum began carefully examining the hole the Uruseins had cut earlier. A few sparks flew from the many partially severed wires, and what appeared to be oil dripped sluggishly from one crushed pipe.

"How bad's the damage?" Ataru asked, peering into the hole as well.

"Hard to tell," she replied. "I think one of the primary power conduits got cut here, and it made a couple of the others overload."

Ataru gulped. "It's not going to explode, is it?" he asked hesitantly, remembering the last time they'd crashed.

"No," she assured him. "Several of the conduits burned out, but the engines and power supply are fine." She frowned. "We're going to need to replace a lot of wiring, but I don't think anything else is damaged."

He let out a relieved breath. He'd hated to think they were going to have to lose their nice home. Still, they weren't in a good situation. The ship couldn't fly, and they were surely sitting ducks for whoever might come along.

"Do you think we can fix it?" he finally asked.

Lum looked up from her inspection of the debris littering the floor inside. "Not without new wiring," she replied. "We might could patch up this conduit with what we have down here, but with the other lines burned out it won't be enough to fly with.

Ataru sighed. "So we're stuck out here, a million miles from anyone, is that right?"

Lum nodded despondently. "Right, Darling."

He glanced into the air, knowing anyone overhead would easily spot the bright yellow ship against the green forest. "Can anyone track us electronically?"

Lum looked up thoughtfully. "Not if we kill all of the power," she told him. "But that means everything will be down, even communications."

"Go ahead and do it," Ataru told her, heading towards one of the downed trees. "I'm going to start covering up the ship." He was grateful that most of the trees around them had large palm like leaves. It shouldn't be too hard to cover up the parts not already covered by fallen trees.

* * *

Around twenty minutes later they had done a pretty good job of disguising the ship from the air. With that done, they both had taken a rest underneath. Between their narrow escape and the wreck, they were both feeling the effects of stress and exhaustion.

"How's your ankle?" Ataru asked as Lum nestled up against his side.

"It's ok," she answered. "I think it's just sprained." She looked at her arms and frowned at the restraint cuffs still around her wrists. "In a little while I want to try getting these off," she commented.

"Yeah, I think I can cut them off," he replied, taking another look at one. "You aren't hurt anywhere else are you?"

"No, I'm fine," she said for the tenth time.

Ataru looked her over critically, noticing that the top button of her dress was missing, and the button below that had been unbuttoned as well. "They didn't try to do anything?" he asked hesitantly, his voice heavy with concern.

Lum followed his gaze down to her damaged dress. "Not really," she replied quietly, shuddering as she remembered one of the soldier's lewd smiles. She clutched tighter at Ataru, all the fear she had felt earlier suddenly rushing back.

He noticed her behavior and frowned. Whatever had happened, she was still pretty shaken up about it. He remained silent and wrapped his arms around her, hoping to comfort her.

A short while later they parted, both hearing a faint rumble in the skies above. Peeking out from the underside of the ship, they saw a truly terrifying sight. Several huge ships filled the sky. Lum stared incredulously, rarely having seen one of the giant battleships this low to the ground.

"Those aren't your father's, are they?" Ataru asked, already knowing the answer.

Lum shook her head. "They've got to be from the Fourth Fleet," she replied quietly, watching them pass over. "I wonder what they're planning."

As if in response, a lance of light struck out from one of the ships, darting towards the ground far away. Even from this far away they felt the ground tremor as the shot struck the surface.

Ataru looked at the sky in shock, wondering what they had just hit. His mouth gaped open, but no words came forth.

Lum started crying again. She didn't know what they had hit, but most of the more populated areas of Oniboshi were in that direction. A strike like that would have been devastating to a city.

The ships passed on, disappearing beyond their limited view through the thick treetops. Every now and then the ground shook again, each time making the couple more and more despondent.

"What's wrong with these monsters?" Ataru finally asked, his expression furious. "They're killing their own people out there!" He sank to his knees, tears leaking from his eyes. "This is so senseless."

Lum sat down heavily beside him, her thoughts a jumble. "I don't know," she responded distantly, staring into space. "I just don't know."

* * *

A short time later the Fukujin fleet finally neared the planet. Commanding from aboard the flagship _Takarabune_, Bishamonten gave the order to keep in close formation. The Fourth Fleet appeared to have already closed in on the planet, and he didn't want to fight them so near the surface if he could help it.

As they drew near the surface, the supreme commander gasped as scenes of destruction began appearing on the view screens. It appeared several major cities on the planet had already been attacked. The capitol was in especially bad shape; large craters dotted the landscape all around.

Circling around the planet from a high orbit, the enemy fleet soon appeared far below.

"Should we open fire?" one of his commanders asked eagerly.

"Not yet," Bishamonten ordered, frowning at the sight. "If we miss, we'll just be doing more damage to Oniboshi."

The commander looked confused. "What are we going to do then?"

Bishamonten frowned. "We'll have to attack from close up," he decided. The Uruseins were smart. It was well known that the Fukujin battleships had far superior range, and by sticking close to the planet they were forcing him to eliminate that factor from the battle entirely.

They had made a couple of mistakes, however. The Oni warships were designed to stay in high orbit, staying safely above the reach of most planets' defenses. Their atmospheric maneuverability was not the greatest. Obviously they knew Oniboshi had no real defensive network and had taken the chance of heading lower.

It was unlikely the Uruseins knew just how maneuverable Fukujin ships were in any situation, even close to the ground. It wasn't for nothing that their shipbuilders were praised across the galaxy.

"All ships, listen up" Bishamonten commanded. "We'll engage them at close quarters. Do not fire unless you have a clear shot at the enemy." He frowned. Hopefully they would still have enough of a technological advantage to take on the entire fleet by themselves. From Invader's last transmission it didn't sound like they would be able to provide support anytime soon.


	28. Longest Night

Ataru sighed. It had been a few hours since they had felt the last tremble. He didn't know if that meant the Urusein ships had merely moved too far away, or if they had simply ran out of things to shoot at. Having no way to communicate with the outside world was frustrating, but not worth possibly giving away their location.

He nibbled idly on a sandwich Lum had prepared for him. All the food in the fridge was going to go bad without power, so even though neither one was particularly hungry they were having as lavish a dinner as possible without being able to cook.

Finally putting the sandwich aside, still only half eaten, Ataru stared up into the evening sky. Only the cold twinkling stars met his gaze, nothing was visibly moving at all. Regardless, somewhere out there a battle was probably still going on. He wondered if a similar battle was taking place somewhere on Oniboshi without them even knowing about it.

"Can't you eat, Darling?" Lum asked from a spot a few feet away. Ataru didn't answer and she grew even more worried. He hadn't said a whole lot in the last little bit, but had just stared off into the sky. She picked up her plate and moved closer to him, hoping he would respond.

"Darling?" she prompted him, settling down close. "Are you ok?"

He started, as if just now noticing her. "I'm fine," he replied, shaking his head slightly. "Just been thinking about everything that's happened."

"I know what you mean," Lum told him. "I never thought things would turn out like this."

"Do you think they're doing the same thing to Earth's cities?" Ataru suddenly asked. "Would they just shoot them up like that?"

"I don't know," Lum admitted. "I would have thought not before this happened." She looked down. "I really hope they're ok. I can't imagine how bad things are in the cities on this planet even."

Ataru reached down and took her hand. He knew he needed to stop worrying about things he couldn't control and just focus on keeping Lum safe and comforted. She was suffering just as much as he was, if not more.

"You were really brave, Darling," Lum said out of the blue as she scooted even closer. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there to protect me."

He frowned and looked away. Actually shooting someone, even if it hadn't killed the guy, wasn't something he was proud of. Yet he knew he would do the exact same thing again if he had it to do over. Lum was much too precious to him to have done anything else. In the end he was no different than any of the oni fighting up there to protect their loved ones. Except they didn't try to fruitlessly convince themselves otherwise.

"I'm just glad you're safe," he finally responded, lifting her hand to his lips and softly kissing it. "We've been through so much, and I really couldn't bear losing you now."

Lum smiled. Even as bad as things were, Darling was so romantic. She reached over with her other arm and brushed the hair out of his eyes. He had been letting it grow out a bit, and she'd made him an appointment at the barber's shop for the next day before all this had happened. Noticing his singed hair on one side, she brushed her fingers through it, feeling the very tips crumble under her fingertips.

"You didn't get burned, did you Darling?" she asked worriedly.

"No, I'm fine," he replied gently, reaching up to take her other hand in his. Pulling her close to him, he looked her in the eyes, his face unusually serious. "Lum, just in case anything happens, I want you to know something."

"What is it, Darling?" she asked breathlessly.

"No matter what any ceremony says, I already consider you my wife in every way that counts," he told her solemnly. He looked away, suddenly getting shy again. "I really just want to thank you for all the great memories we've had."

"You're so sweet," Lum replied softly, resting her head on his warm shoulder. Sitting here under the stars, all of her worries and fears seemed to fade away for the moment. All she could think of was how nice it was to be here with her precious Darling.

"We'll get through this, you know," she told him quietly after a few minutes.

"You really think so?" he asked, staring into the night sky with a forlorn expression.

"As long as we're together, I'm not going to stop hoping," she replied.

"You always were optimistic," he said fondly.

"I have to be, Darling." She nuzzled up to his neck. "Someone has to balance you out."

Ataru looked down at her face, glad to see her smile. "What do you think we should do in the morning?"

"I don't know," she replied. "Do you think we should risk powering the ship back on?" She gazed into the thick trees for a moment. "I don't know how far out we are, but I didn't see anything nearby when we came down."

He thought about it for a few minutes. "I don't know either," he finally admitted. "We'll see how things look tomorrow I guess." He looked regretfully at their downed UFO. With it tilted like that, he didn't think they'd be able to sleep very well inside.

Handing her one of their flashlights, he nodded towards the ship. "Could you go get us some blankets?" he asked.

Lum nodded and flew off towards the hatch. Ataru watched her disappear inside, then sighed and returned his attention to the sky. He really hated to chance someone else finding them, but they really couldn't risk wondering through this forest forever without any food or shelter. He wondered if Lum would agree to go hide somewhere far away while he tried to see what was going on out there by himself. Somehow he doubted she would go along with a plan like that.

Lum returned a few minutes later, several blankets heaped over her shoulders. Settling down, she started spreading them out on the ground, hoping it would be enough to keep them warm all night.

"There," she announced cheerfully as she finished getting things ready. "This should be just like sleeping on a futon back home."

Ataru smiled. Lum was usually able to make any situation bearable with her upbeat attitude. "Thanks, Lum," he told her sincerely.

She smiled back at him, happy that he was in a better mood. "Let's get some sleep, Darling," she replied, climbing under the blankets. "I'm sure things will look better in the morning."

Ataru settled in beside her, happy to find she had put enough blankets down that it wasn't too uncomfortable. "This isn't that bad," he commented, putting an arm behind his back in place of a pillow.

Lum snuggled up close, evidently deciding to make his shoulder her pillow. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed. "Kind of like camping."

"I guess it is," Ataru mused, staring up at the sky. There were lots more stars visible out here than he usually could see growing up. It was pretty, but also a chilling reminder of how far away from home he was. None of the familiar constellations he had grown up with were present. He doubted he would be able to see the star his planet revolved around even if he knew which direction to look.

"Lum?" he asked quietly, but got no response. Judging by her breathing she had already drifted off. Not wanting to disturb her, he closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep himself.

* * *

Invader sat unmoving in his seat, his jaw resting securely on his chest. His eyes were clearly open, but what exactly they were staring at no one could say. His bridge officers gave him a wide berth, unwilling to disturb him at such a time.

Suddenly he stood and strode from the room without a word. Even though his presence was still needed, no one attempted to stop him.

Jirettai silently stared after the retreating warlord for a moment. Turning reluctantly back towards the view screens, he winced. Things were bad on Oniboshi. In fact things were very bad. He didn't blame his superior for having to leave the bridge.

"I guess we'll just hold here in orbit until the boss gets back," he told the other officer's nervously. He sighed and tried to wipe the sweat from his brow. His girlfriend was somewhere down there, and he could only hope that she was ok. It was at least somewhat reassuring that she lived so far out in the country.

It appeared the Uruseins had concentrated the bulk of their fire on the most populated areas. The capitol was in ruins, and several other cities were heavily damaged as well. The planet's main spaceport, a small but thriving city in its own right, was simply gone. Not a single structure remained standing for miles around.

"Lt. Commander?" the communications officer spoke up. "The _Minokichi_ is requesting clearance to land."

Jirettai thought for a moment. "Give them permission," he decided. If his boss had a problem with that, he would take the heat for it. Undoubtedly there was plenty of injured down below. "Just make sure they pick a good spot. The area around the spaceport might be unstable."

"Roger," the officer responded, quickly relaying his order.

* * *

Invader sat alone in the darkness of his private chambers, hoping everyone would just give him a few minutes to himself. He'd done his best. They had fought hard to drive the Urusein forces away from the edge of the system. But with this kind of results, had it really been worth it?

Invader brought up his personal monitor and skimmed anxiously through the magnified scenes of the carnage below. The entire area around the spaceport was barren. There was no question about that. And there wasn't a single bit of evidence that a small tiger striped UFO had ever sat nearby except the few mangled remains of what had once been a set of custom made stairs.

Flicking through the images, he managed to find one of the area where his home stood. Zooming in close, he was relieved to see it at least was still standing untouched. Hopefully his sister-in-law's family had at least escaped unharmed. He was afraid to look at any more scenes from the capitol. Too afraid he'd see friends he had gotten drunk with. Too afraid he might come across the Moroboshis, who were only there because of his insistence that Ataru's father take that government job.

Invader sighed heavily. He knew it wasn't very professional to be worrying about his own family when there were so many others suffering, but this was a heavy blow. For seventeen years he had doted on his only child, his precious daughter, and now he was forced to assume the worst. As soon as they had been in range he had done a thorough scan of the planet, and there wasn't a sign of the UFO's energy signature or identification signals.

He closed the images and made a call. He had to make sure his sister-in-law was ok at the very least.

The line rang for a long time before anyone picked up. "Invader residence," came through as Ten's tear streaked face appeared on the screen.

"Ten-chan!" Invader greeted his tiny nephew joyfully, trying not to upset the boy further. "Is everything ok there?"

Ten shook his head. "Mama and Daddy went out to help with the fires," he replied, looking scared. "And Lum-chan and Ataru were coming here, but they never showed up!" He started sniffling, obviously trying to hold back his tears.

Invader frowned. "What do you mean? Did they leave the spaceport?" he asked calmly, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Ataru said they were already on their way here," Ten weakly. "Then we didn't hear from them again."

Invader's expression fell. "Was this before or after the attacks started?" he asked, his voice getting thick. It just wasn't fair that they might have escaped the area but still hadn't made it.

"They should have made it here way before those ships came," Ten replied sadly.

Invader growled. That didn't make any sense. If they weren't at the spaceport, what had happened to them on the way? "Thanks, Ten-chan," he said roughly. "You be a good boy and wait for your parents to come home."

Ten nodded. "Do you think they're ok?" he asked fearfully.

Invader stared at the boy for several seconds. "I don't know, Ten-chan." He closed the connection, afraid he was going to upset the boy even more.

Bringing up the orbital surveillance images back up, Invader did a careful search of the route between the spaceport and his home, but he still couldn't find anything. Checking the time, he realized he desperately needed to get back to the bridge. With a groan he shut down the console and stood up. Much as he hated it, there were more important things he needed to be doing right now.

* * *

Ataru half woke up, the unfamiliar sensation of the wind blowing across his face making him restless. Groaning, he started to roll over, but felt something heavy pinning him down on one side. Too tired to think, he reached his free arm over and tried to push whatever it was off. A grumpy growl sounded beside him, and suddenly he felt something sharp scrape against his arm.

Waking up more fully, he realized he had a sleeping oni's teeth gently gripping his wrist. After Carefully extracting his arm, Ataru grinned. Poor Lum was really out of it.

Once he stopped moving, she wiggled a bit until she was comfortable again, then smiled contently. Ataru watched her sleep for a few minutes, then laid his head back and closed his eyes again. It looked like the sun would be coming up soon, and he figured he needed to get some more rest.

A few minutes later his eyes reluctantly popped back open. For whatever reason sleep was skillfully eluding him. He peered over at Lum, jealous of her ability to sleep through anything. He really wondered how she managed to do it. The nagging worry about his family was driving him nuts, and he knew she must be feeling the same way.

Soon enough the sun came fully up over the horizon, but in the middle of the thick forest it merely made things a little bit brighter. Ataru, still awake, groaned softly. He really didn't want to disturb Lum, but he was really itching to get up. Not to mention that nature had been calling for a while now.

"Lum," he called softly, not wanting to startle her. There was no response. He tried again a good bit louder, but got similar results. He tried one more time, but she just frowned and hung on tighter.

Finally getting desperate, he resorted to yelling. "Lum, get up."

Lum's sat up with a start as her eyes snapped open, still bleary and unfocused. She frowned and glanced around frantically, not knowing what had woken her up. Finally looking down, she saw Darling lying motionless, his hair slightly frizzed. He glared up at her irritably, making her wonder what his problem was.

After a second of recovering from the brief but painful jolt she had given him, Ataru made his way to his feet and hobbled off into the bushes to do his business. Lum stared blankly after him, totally unaware of what had happened. He quickly returned, still looking irritated.

"Good morning, Darling," Lum greeted him quietly, but got only muttering in reply. He sat down heavily a few feet from her and started putting his shoes on.

"You sure are in a cranky mood," she commented huffily, turning away from him.

"Who wouldn't be after getting zapped first thing in the morning?" he muttered angrily.

Lum put her hand up to her mouth. "Darling, you mean I'm leaking electricity again?" She stared at him for a moment, her wide eyes shimmering.

Ataru sighed, feeling guilty. "No, I just startled you, apparently." He scooted over closer to her, unwilling to make her upset.

"I'm sorry," she replied quietly. "I didn't know."

"It's fine," Ataru responded casually. "Don't worry about it."

She smiled at him, then looked away. "It's morning," she said, as if just now realizing that fact.

"Yeah," Ataru replied quietly.

"Everything seems pretty calm, doesn't it?" Lum asked hesitantly.

"It does," Ataru agreed. "I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign."

"So what should we do?"

Ataru didn't answer for a few moments. "I think we should probably go ahead and see if we can get any news," he answered softly. "If they haven't ran off the Uruseins by now, there probably isn't anyone left who can."

Lum looked worried by his wording, but nodded. That was probably true, much as she hated to admit it. "As long as we don't make any calls, it's likely no one will notice us," she told him hesitantly. "They'd have to really be looking for our ship in particular."

He nodded. "Ok, let's do it quick though."

She hopped up and grabbed Ataru around the shoulders, quickly carrying him up to the open hatch. He stumbled slightly on the uneven surface but managed to catch his footing.

"Ok, Darling, I'm going to turn the auxiliary power back on," she told him, heading for the engine room.

Ataru gave her a thumbs-up and hoped nothing else would short out.

A faint hum soon began emitting from the consoles as status lights started coming on slowly. He looked at how many of them were red in dismay. The ship really was going to need a lot of work.

"Ok, power's on," Lum called out. "See if you can get the screen up."

Ataru fiddled with the controls for a moment, trying to find some news. Worryingly enough, only static met him on the usual local channels. He tried a few of the galactic ones and was happy to see they at least were still working.

Lum came up behind him. "Can't get any local news?"

"Not so far," Ataru replied. The intergalactic news wasn't saying anything about Oniboshi. He figured that in the grand scheme of things it probably wasn't worthy of a headline or anything.

Lum frowned and changed the channel to one Ataru wasn't familiar with. A very fuzzy figure soon appeared. "This channel isn't broadcast from the capitol like the others are," she explained.

Ataru strained to listen for a moment, but he didn't understand the language the person was speaking at all. "Is this in Oni?" he asked.

Lum shushed him, straining to understand. "No, it's Nikusuin," she finally replied. "Ran's people still speak it amongst themselves." She frowned. "This signal's pretty bad, and I only learned a tiny bit of it hanging out with Ran when we were little."

"I guess it's a good sign that they're still broadcasting at least," Ataru replied glumly. He just now caught on to the fact that if no channels from the capitol were broadcasting, things must be pretty bad there. He could only hope his parents were ok.

Lum nodded absently, still trying to listen for the few words she understood. After a few minutes she gave up. "This is hopeless," she was just starting to say when suddenly the speaker switched languages to Japanese.

"We have been made aware that we may be the only Oniboshian station still broadcasting at this time," the reporter announced. "Therefore we will be repeating all reports in Galactic Standard until this crisis is over." He paused for a moment, collecting his notes. "For all of those who are just now tuning in, we have reports that the Third Fleet is resuming orbit around the planet. Fukujin's forces have been sighted leaving the planet as well. It has now been almost seven hours since the last of the Urusein invasionary fleet was driven out of Oniboshian space.

Lum shrieked in joy. "Did you hear that, Darling?"

"Yeah," he said tensely, still listening.

The reporter's voice grew grim. "However this narrow victory has come at a heavy cost. Oniboshi City appears to have been the hardest hit during the initial bombardment, but we also have reports of major damage in cities across the Eastern Hemisphere. Rescue operations are currently underway, but the amount of damage and casualties is still unknown at this time."

The reporter abruptly switched back to the original language. Lum listened for a moment more, then turned it off. "Well, Darling, I'm going to call and make sure my Aunt's family is ok," she said. "I'm sure they can get someone out here to pick us up."

Ataru nodded dumbly, not really listening to her. All he could think of was that his parents quite possibly hadn't made it. He made his way over to the couch in a daze and sat down, feeling like he could be sick.

Lum looked at him worriedly, but left him alone. Dialing up her parent's house, she was glad when Ten-chan answered. He looked fine, taking at least one worry off her mind.

"Lum-chan!" he greeted her joyfully. His smile quickly turned into a pout. "You never came," he pointed out. "Everyone was really worried too."

"I'm sorry, Ten-chan," she apologized. "We had a bit of trouble on the way." She paused for a moment. "Is anyone there with you?"

"No, Mama came home a little while ago but she had to go again," Ten replied sadly. "Can you come over?" He looked a bit scared.

"Well, we're kind of stranded out here," Lum replied. "The UFO got a bit damaged and we don't even know exactly where we are." She paused for a moment. "Have you heard from my parents?"

"Uncle called a few hours ago," Ten told her. "I haven't heard from Aunty yet."

"How about Darling's parents?" she asked quietly.

"I haven't heard anything," Ten answered somberly. "Mama said things were real bad where they were."

Lum sighed. "Ok. Thanks, Ten-chan." She glanced at Darling. He was still in the same spot, just staring blankly at the floor. "I'm going to see if Ran-chan can give us a lift," she told him. "You just be a good boy until your mom gets back."

Ten nodded. "Ok, Lum-chan. He peered past her. "Tell Ataru I said hi."

Lum swiftly dialed up her friend. She let it ring for a long time, but there was no answer. She tried Ran's mother in desperation but got the same results. She thought for a moment. She hated to bother her father at a time like this, but there wasn't much anyone else she could ask.

* * *

The on shift communications officer aboard the _Doji_ sighed. He'd been on duty for only a few hours, but he'd been taking constant calls. Status reports from the other vessels in the fleet, requests for rescue operations, reports from the troops being deployed on the ground, it was a never-ending flow.

He didn't even bother enabling the visuals at this point. It was easier not to, too many disturbing scenes kept appearing behind the callers. They were getting as many people on the ground to help out as they could spare, but the number of disasters was stretching everyone thin.

Answering the latest call, he tried to keep his cool. "Third Fleet Command," he answered wearily.

"Hi, this is Lum Invader," a soft voice replied. "May I speak to my father?"

The officer's eyes went wide. "Boss!" he called out.

Invader's head snapped up. "What now?" he asked grumpily.

"Your daughter's on the line!" the smiling officer informed him.

Invader's face looked incredulous for a moment, then turned to glee. "Send her over!" he demanded.

Lum's face soon appeared on Invader's screen. "Lum!" he greeted her happily. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Hi Daddy." she replied quietly. "I know you're busy, but we're kind of stuck out in some forest." She paused for a moment. "I really hate to ask, but could you send someone out here? Our UFO's got some damage, and it can't fly.

Invader smiled. "Yeah, I'll send a shuttle out as soon as we can trace your location." Noticing her expression, he started getting worried again. "Are you two alright?"

"I guess so," Lum replied. "You haven't heard from Darling's parents, have you?"

Invader's face fell. "Not yet," he admitted sadly. "We've got a lot of people in the area though, if they're still alive we'll find them."

Lum gave a look of alarm and hastily turned down the volume. "Don't say it like that!" she hissed irritably.

Invader grew red. "Sorry." He sighed. Hours and hours of dealing with this stuff was wearing him down. He wouldn't usually be so tactless about this kind of thing. "Hey, Lum, get that son-in-law of mine over here, I want to have a word with him."

He heard her calling Ataru over. The slightly dazed looking earthling soon appeared.

"I'm glad to see you're ok, Son," Invader greeted him, trying to sound supportive. Seeing that Ataru wasn't really focused, he abruptly changed his tone to sound angry. "Are you taking good care of my daughter?"

Ataru blinked, not expecting the oni's outburst. "Y-Yes sir," he stuttered. "I mean...I'm doing my best to." He trailed off, not sure what to say.

Invader saw Lum frowning at him over her fiancée's shoulder. "That's good, you make sure she stays safe." He glared at Ataru for a moment more, then went back to sounding friendly. "Listen, Son, I'm doing everything I can to find your parents." He paused for a moment, making sure that he had Ataru's attention. "I'll keep you guys up to date, but I'd really appreciate it if you could just watch over Lum and little Ten-chan until this is all straightened out. Can you do that for me?"

Ataru nodded. "Yeah, I will," he replied quietly. Invader smiled. The boy needed something to do to keep his mind off his troubles. The warlord knew from personal experience that keeping busy was often the only way you could cope at times like this.

"Ok, you guys just sit tight, I'll have a shuttle out there soon," Invader promised as he cut the connection. He could only hope Lum wouldn't be too mad at him later for being so rough on her fiancée.


	29. Aftermath

The _Minokichi_ touched down heavily onto the surface of Oniboshi for the second time. This time it was a much smoother landing than the near crash landing they had suffered before.

Oyuki looked out the window at the early morning sky. This time her beloved ship was in perfect shape, but she found herself just as grief stricken as before. Her face was expressionless as she gazed out the window at the heavily cratered landscape below. The neat little groups of shops and restaurants that had lined the streets around the spaceport were gone, wiped away in a brutal bombardment. A good number of her people had settled here amongst their new oni friends.

She did not yet know how many of her quickly dwindling race remained. Besides the few crewing the ship, she knew a good number had settled in the far northern ice caps, the frigid land reminding them of the planet they had left behind. Yet many had remained here, humbly selling and trading their wares as they had always done. She hoped that at least a few of these Neptunians had fled the area prior to the attack, but right now she had to assume that they were all gone.

"I want every available crewmember out there looking for survivors," Oyuki commanded her stunned bridge officers. "Please make sure the search is well organized until I rejoin you.

One of the officers approached timidly. "My Lady, may I ask what you intend to do now?" Usually the queen would be at the forefront of any efforts, providing both inspiration and courage to any whom got discouraged. Her calm in the face of any crisis was invaluable in such times.

"I shall require a little while by myself," Oyuki stated in the same neutral tone she always kept. "Please take care of things in the meantime."

The officer nodded. "I understand, My Lady. We will oversee things in your place." She bowed and took her leave, beckoning for the rest of the room to follow.

As soon as the last person had left the bridge, Oyuki sunk wearily into a seat, her hand over her eyes. It was hard remaining so calm in times like this, but she just couldn't bear to let her subjects see her lose her composure. They relied on her so much these days, and she knew she had to stay strong for them.

At times like this even her façade crumbled. A light layer of frost soon covered every surface of the bridge. She was glad the electronics were well waterproofed because there really wasn't anything she could do to prevent the ice from forming. Her powers were tied heavily to her moods and she was not in complete control of herself right now. The Neptunian queen quickly realized it would be a good idea to leave the bridge until she was able to calm down again.

Opening a tunnel through subspace at random, Oyuki emerged into an empty field, perhaps ten or so miles from the ship. After making sure she was alone, she finally let out her frustration. A bitter scream echoed through the air as innumerable ice spears formed from the water in the air. They wove a tight pattern around her, clustering ever more tightly until she was completely incased within.

* * *

Tsuukai was deftly crawling through the remains of yet another destroyed building when she thought she heard a faint noise. She frowned. The settling rubble was often noisy, but this had sounded more like a moan. The firefighter carefully worked her way in a bit deeper, hoping the mostly collapsed roof would hold just a bit longer.

Over her headset she could here her husband muttering worriedly about how this place wasn't safe. She growled softly. Of course it wasn't safe, but that didn't mean it didn't need to be checked out. She knew if Hinoban's shoulders hadn't been too wide to enter the partially obstructed entrance to the structure, he would have been in here himself.

She groaned as she went deeper in without finding anyone. Hundreds of rescue teams had been hard at work ever since the battle ended, hunting for people trapped in the wrecked buildings of the capitol. While at first they had a great success, as the hours went on and the night had passed, finding survivors had become more and more rare.

The muffled noise once again sounded. Tsuukai made her way into yet another room and looked around, her headlamp barely illuminating the dark chamber. It appeared that she was in some sort of office, judging by the desks and chairs scattered about. The roof had partially caved in near the back, but she could still plainly see that the room was empty. She was just about to move on when her light bounced back at her from something on the floor next to the jumble of desks that filled the rear of the chamber.

The oni made her way in carefully, curious to see what it was. As she drew closer, her brow furrowed as she realized that it was a pair of eyeglasses like the earthlings sometimes wore. Oni didn't need such, having long ago perfected corrective eye surgery. She stared sadly at the one remaining lens for a moment, knowing that only one person would have been wearing these.

A faint scraping noise sounded from behind the desks. Tsuukai's eyes widened, realizing she had found the source of the noise. She pocketed the broken glasses and gingerly tugged at one of the desks, hoping she wouldn't dislodge anything in the process. It was lodged pretty tight, but she decided to go ahead and use some more force. With a squeal it finally gave way, revealing a hollow area behind it. Thick dust spewed out and the partially collapsed ceiling groaned mightily. Luckily it was still holding up.

She winced as she caught sight of the prone body that was revealed. It was the earthling, just as she had feared, and he didn't look to be in good shape. She quickly examined him and noticed that one of his legs was caught under the rubble. It appeared the poor man had attempted to make some sort of protective shelter out of several desks, but a couple had been crushed when the ceiling caved in.

He moaned once again, and she let out a sigh of relief. The way he looked she hadn't been sure that he was still holding on.

Putting her finger on her headset, she reported in. "Hey, I've got a live one down here. It's Moroboshi, and he's not in great shape."

"Roger," her husband responded, his voice suddenly dead serious. "Are you able to extract? I don't like the look of this place."

"Negative," she replied. "His leg is buried." She sighed. "We're too deep to attempt to lift off any rubble, aren't we?"

"Yeah, there's no way," Hinoban affirmed, rechecking his scan of the building. "The remaining structure is way too unstable."

"I guess I don't have any choice then," she replied decisively. "I doubt we could have saved his leg anyways."

Tsuukai sighed. She knew it was futile, but she grabbed the earthling's thigh and pulled back as hard as she dared. Moroboshi suddenly screamed out in pain, and then lapsed back into unconsciousness. She laid him back down carefully and examined the leg more closely. There was clearly no way she was going to be able to extract it. And from the look of things, the quicker she could get him out of here the better.

Reaching into the bag strewn across her back, she quickly fumbled out the medical kit she always carried for missions like this. She didn't know how the alien's body would react to the painkillers she had, but there really wasn't much choice. Slipping a needle onto the syringe, she made sure the other devices she needed were ready and close at hand. If she was going to get him out alive, she would have to work quickly. She really wished they had a fully trained medic on hand to do this kind of thing, but there just weren't enough to go around.

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Moroboshi," she said tenderly as she gave him the injection. "There's just no other way."

* * *

"You found my husband?" the distraught earthling woman demanded, her voice bordering on panic. "Is he ok?"

Hinoban looked away, his face solemn. He hated to be the one breaking the news to her, but Tsuukai still had her hands full elsewhere. He'd gotten the unpleasant task of finding Moroboshi's wife at the emergency shelters they had set up on the outskirts of the city. "Well, he's not in critical condition," he finally replied, "but his right leg was crushed. There was no choice but to amputate."

Mrs. Moroboshi's eyes grew wide as she sunk back into her seat. "This can't be happening!" she bawled.

The oni laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Moroboshi. He was really lucky to come out of there alive."

She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "How bad is it?"

"We were able to amputate the leg right below the knee." He paused for a moment. "I understand that earth prosthetics are fairly primitive, but we've got much better ones here. Once he recovers, he'll be up and walking around again pretty quick."

That seemed to calm her down just a little. "Can I see him?" she asked softly, trying to regain her composure.

"We'll go see if he's ready for visitors in a second," Hinoban replied, taking a bottled drink from one of the passing volunteers. "He was unconscious for a while, but they've got him stabilized and on good pain medication, so he won't be feeling anything."

He looked down at the ground while he drank, feeling irrationally guilty. Fighting raging fires was more of his forte; he'd never been particularly good at this kind of thing. However they had both agreed that it would be better for someone that knew the couple to break the news.

"Have you heard anything at all about Ataru or Lum?" she finally asked, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

Hinoban started. With this whole ordeal, he had totally forgotten the good news they had received over the radio. "Oh, sorry," he quickly apologized, "I thought someone would have let you know already. Your son and Lum-chan were both found a little while ago. It sounds like they are both fine."

She put her hand to her heart, relieved that the two had made it through yet another ordeal. "Thank you," she replied sincerely. "That's a huge worry off my mind."

"They're good kids," Hinoban commented, listening to his headset. As soon as he was done here, it sounded like he was going to be needed further downtown. "Come on, Let's go on down to the medical tents and see if they'll let you in," he told her as he mounted his airbike. She climbed on gingerly behind him, glad that she had worn jeans.

"Hold on, this thing kicks a little," he warned her, gunning it up to top speed. She shrieked, but managed to hold on.

* * *

"Dear, how are you feeling?" Mrs. Moroboshi asked him the second they were left alone.

"I'm ok," her husband answered in a weak voice. She could tell he was heavily drugged, but he still seemed to be pretty aware of his surroundings. "Did you get hurt any?"

She wondered if he had noticed the scratches on her cheek and forehead. "It's nothing serious," she said, putting her hand hesitantly on his arm. "Our apartment got banged up a little, but I got out ok."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, barely managing to crack a smile. "It seems like we can't have a place anywhere that doesn't get all messed up somehow."

She smiled, remembering how accident-prone their little home back in Tomobiki was. "I know," she agreed. "But that's not really important."

He squinted at her, and she realized his ever-present glasses were missing. "Oh dear, did you lose your glasses?" she fussed.

He pointed vaguely towards a nearby machine, where the lost glasses were residing. She picked them up and was disappointed to see that the frame was twisted and one lens was missing. "Now where are we going to find an optician on this planet?" she worried. "I don't think I've seen anyone else wearing glasses."

"I don't know," he answered worriedly. He swallowed heavily and looked down towards the foot of the small portable bed they had placed him in. "They told me they had to remove half my leg," he suddenly said, starting to get upset.

"Yes, dear, they told me," she replied, quickly returning to his side. "Are you in any pain?"

"I can't really feel anything," he admitted. "I mean, it feels like it's still there even, but it's just not."

She squeezed his arm carefully. "It'll be ok," she cooed. "Hinoban said they have really good prosthetic legs here. They'll get you all fixed up before you know it."

"Yeah," he mumbled, still staring down towards where his foot would have been. "They told me that too."

She smiled. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you until you're back up again," she assured him.

He smiled back gratefully. "Thank you, dear." Leaning his head back, he suddenly frowned again. "Have you heard from Ataru yet?"

"No, but I heard that he and Lum are both ok," she hastily assured him.

"That's good," he replied. "I feel really bad about their wedding."

She looked down sadly. "I know. It was in only three more days, after all." She looked back at him. "I kept expecting it to be Ataru that would ruin it, you know? I just didn't expect something like this would happen."

He nodded his head. "Being serious though, do you think Ataru will really go through with it this time?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think he will." She'd been watching her son for years now, and after the longest childhood she'd ever seen, he was finally starting to act his age. "He's really in love with her, you know."

"Yeah, he is," her husband agreed. "Took him long enough to figure it out though."

She giggled. "He always was a bit stubborn."

* * *

Oyuki checked her reflection carefully, making sure that not a single hair was out of place. Satisfied that everything looked ok, she stepped out of her private chambers and took the lift down to the ground floor. It just wouldn't do for anyone to know what she had been up to.

Leaving the ship, she found a small but efficient command center had been set up outside. She briskly greeted the officer in charge. "I apologize for my untimely absence, but I am ready to resume command. What is the current situation?"

Her officer bowed. "My Lady, we've been in close contact with the rescue groups from both the Third Fleet and the civilian sector. It appears that most of the damage and rescue efforts are currently centered around the capitol." She paused for a moment, her face downcast. "Several groups already searched this area during the night, but no survivors were found. We have most of the crew out trying to shift through the rubble for bodies."

Oyuki nodded slightly. Judging from just looking at the extensive damage done to the entire area, she had expected this.

"However," the officer continued, "Quite a few ships did leave the area before the attack. Almost all of the Neptunian private merchant ships evacuated the site, and several civilian ships as well."

Only a glimmer in Oyuki's eyes betrayed her reaction. "That is very good news," she simply replied. "What do you estimate our casualties at?"

"The numbers are still changing, but we think around fifty-nine of our people were unable to escape in time."

Oyuki nodded slightly. "I am grateful to hear that at least some escaped." She looked away for a few seconds, torn between being thankful that the numbers weren't higher and feeling mournful for the many lives lost.

The young queen turned back, cold determination back in her eyes. "Send word, I want all of our citizens to be back here by tomorrow." She turned and looked across the barren landscape that had once been a thriving port town. "Please have the crew continue with the recovery operations. It is of the utmost importance that we locate any of our fallen kin."

She paused for a long moment, quickly planning things out in her head. "Also, inform the governor that I am going to be organizing a public wake for all those that have been lost, Oni or Neptunian. If he wants to participate, he is welcome to."

Her officer bowed low. "I shall see that your orders are known, My Lady," she promised solemnly. Oyuki bowed back slightly, appreciative of her highly competent crew. They relied heavily on her for direction at times, but even in her absence they were an impressive group.

* * *

High above the planet, the _Doji_ drifted peacefully in orbit. Invader, furiously skimming through the last few pages of a report, suddenly looked up.

"Jirettai," he called out.

"Yeah, boss?" the Lt. Commander answered.

"What's the current status on the repairs to those two carriers?"

"The _Kozuna_ is in really bad shape still," his subordinate replied. "Priority has been given to repairing the _Lamu_ since the damage isn't as serious."

Invader nodded patiently, already knowing this. He decided to get right to the point. "Is the _Lamu_'s number five engine at all salvageable?"

"No sir," Jirettai replied. "The engineers are saying that the damage to the ion drive system is too extensive.

The oni warlord quickly made his decision. "Strip that engine off the _Kozuna _and transfer it over. Make it a top priority."

"Sir, the _Kozuna_ already has three engines shot," Jirettai reminded him. "Are you planning to scrap her?"

Invader waved his objection down. "That'll leave two good engines still," he replied. "That's more than enough to keep her in orbit for a few years. I'm more concerned with getting the _Lamu_ back in fighting condition." He hated to give up on one of their precious few capital ships, but the carriers were already vulnerable enough without losing what little speed and maneuverability they had.

"Anyways, we lost enough interceptors that we can redistribute the _Kozuna _squadrons between our remaining two carriers and the battleships, right?"

Jirettai quickly did the calculations. "Just barely," he replied.

"Try not to break up any squadrons," Invader commented. "As soon as we get a landing base rebuilt planet side, we'll be redistributing them again anyways.

"Gotcha, boss," Jirettai confirmed, dashing off the relay the orders.

Invader sighed. They might have broken the blockade, but the fleet was in bad shape. Three battleships were good for nothing but parts; two others were severely damaged and would require months of repairs. By salvaging what they could, they had thirteen operating battlecruisers left out of their original twenty-one.

Of the thirty-three large ships that had left Oniboshi, only nineteen would be battle ready anytime soon. Under these conditions, with Oniboshi's fledgling shipyards in ruins, it could easily be years before they could muster enough force to do anything more than defend the system.

Luckily he was pretty sure that Uru had similar concerns. The First and Fourth Fleets had suffered even higher losses, and the remainder of the Second Fleet would undoubtedly be recalled soon. Uru had too many other enemies to risk leaving themselves so lightly protected. He just hoped they hadn't done any damage to Earth in the meantime. Earth's satellite network was still unreachable.

"Jirettai?" He called out once more.

"Yeah?"

"Once you get those orders put in, inform Commander Atogama that he's in charge." Invader said. "I'm going down to visit my family and attend the wake." He paused for a moment and grinned knowingly. "I'll bet you are itching to see that little lady of yours too, am I right?"

"Yes sir!" Jirettai responded cheerfully.

* * *

The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly overhead as the ceremony began. Oyuki resisted the urge to shade her eyes as she stepped out of the dark tent. If ever she needed to stay focused and calm, this was the time.

Walking up the steps of the small podium built for this occasion, Oyuki suddenly began to feel a touch of stage fright for the first time in her life. Speaking to her own people, that was something she was used to. However the audience that awaited her dwarfed the numbers she usually spoke before.

Across the fields to the north of the former spaceport, a vast crowd had assembled to mourn all those lost during the Urusein attacks. Oni, Nikusui, and Neptunians alike from across the planet were present to show their respects. As Oyuki gazed out at the immense gathering, her nervousness reached a new peak.

It was comforting to see many familiar faces besides her subjects in the crowd. Lum's various family members had been placed up front of course, as well as Ataru's by extension. An unusually subdued looking Ran was sitting a few rows back next to her mother, and Oyuki was pleased to see Rei sitting calmly beside the neurotic redhead.

Trying to push aside her fear, she stepped up to the microphone. "Thank you all for coming here on this decidedly less than pleasant occasion," she began solemnly. "We speak today not only as the sovereign queen of the Neptunian people, but as a grateful inhabitant of this very hospitable world."

She continued speaking, barely managing to keep her composure. "We have gathered here on this day to mourn the passing of many dear friends. Seven days ago a great tragedy took place on this planet, not only in this spot, but also in cities across the globe. We know few families here have gone untouched by these senseless deaths."

Oyuki paused for a few moments, gaining confidence as she panned across the multitudes. "We wish for you also to remember the many valiant soldiers who were lost protecting all of us. Their ultimate sacrifice is the only thing that allows any of us to even be here on this beautiful day."

Her neutral expression unexpectedly changed into a sad smile. "We realize that this has been a very difficult time for everyone, but We do wish for you all to also remember that while the cost was dear, none of these lives were given in vain. The planet Oniboshi remains free from unjust tyranny. The blockade that has hemmed us in and closed the trade routes to this planet has been broken. And the invasion of the planet Earth has been diverted for the present."

Oyuki paused again to take a deep breath, glancing to her nearby ladies for support. "Sadly, while these are tremendous victories, many obstacles remain in our path. The rift between our peoples and the planet Uru remains great. While they have been forced away from our systems, the danger they pose still exists. Though We dearly miss our home planet, we know the risk is too high to return at this time."

She nodded her head at the Governor. "Governor Kakari has informed me that we Neptunians are welcome to stay on this planet as long as we so desire. Though We dwell now in a land far different than the one we have departed, We enjoy the comfort of having many good friends and allies here. We want to thank all of you citizens of Oniboshi for the warm welcome we have received."

Oyuki slightly bowed her head for a moment, then stepped back, allowing the Governor to take the stage. As she settled demurely in a seat nearby, she finally attempted to relax. She had rewritten what she was going to say a dozen times and still felt that perhaps it had not been good enough. Regardless it was over, and she felt that she had at least expressed her feelings clearly.


	30. Finishing the Game

"Ataru?"

"Ataru!"

"Ataru, will you wake up? You're going to be late if you don't get your lazy butt in gear already!"

Ataru sat up with a start. "What's going on?" he asked drowsily, glancing around.

His mother leaned against the wall, an expression of amused irritation on her face. "You've always been such a pain to get out of bed," she told him. "Now get up and get ready. I won't have my idiot son late for his own wedding."

"Where's Lum?" Ataru asked with a yawn, noticing that the other side of the bed was quite empty.

"She's already been gone for a while," his mother told him. "A lady has to worry about getting their hair arranged and their dress just right and a million other details you men don't have to worry about."

Ataru looked over at the clock and noticed just how late it was. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" he demanded, struggling out of bed.

"I thought you were awake a half hour ago," his mother scolded him. "How late did you go to sleep last night?"

Ataru blushed. "I don't know," he mumbled as he quickly ran a comb through his hair.

His father walked into the room, his gait still a bit unsteady. "Ataru, are you about ready?"

"He just got up," his wife commented irritably. "Why don't you help him get his act together, I need to go finish getting ready myself."

"You look fine already," he protested as she rushed by.

"You men are all alike," she said as she closed the door behind her.

Not knowing what she wanted him to do to help, Mr. Moroboshi eased himself down on the edge of the bed while Ataru struggled into his clothes.

"Don't wrinkle your jacket," he protested after a moment.

Ataru quickly picked it back up off the floor and hung it up while he took care of his shirt. "This tuxedo is so stiff," he complained while he worked on his buttons.

"You only have to wear it once," his father pointed out. "And it's not as bad as that uncomfortable kimono I had to wear when I married your mother."

"Yeah, yeah," Ataru responded, well used to hearing stories of how rough things were in the old days. Finally getting his buttons done, he quickly slipped on the cummerbund and started working on his bow tie.

"So, you're finally going through with it?" Mr. Moroboshi asked idly, habitually reaching up to adjust glasses that were no longer there.

"What makes you think I wouldn't?" his son grumped, frustrated with the tie.

"Last time you left poor Lum-chan at the altar," his father reminded him. "And you are the one who told us a million times that you weren't ever getting married."

"Things change," Ataru replied, giving up on making the stubborn knot look right.

"Get over here," his father commanded. He quickly managed to get his son's bowtie straightened out. He leaned back to get a better look at Ataru. "Well, son, I'm really proud of you. And you're really lucky to have such a cute girl who loves you so much."

"I know," Ataru replied as he got his jacket on. He looked over guiltily. "Thanks, Dad." His father, meek as he tended to be, really was a good man. He felt bad that they didn't have these kinds of talks more often. "How's your vision?" he asked while he checked himself in the mirror.

"Better than ever," Mr. Moroboshi responded. "These aliens really know their stuff compared to earth doctors." He looked regretfully down at his right leg. "I'm still getting used to this stupid leg though."

"You're walking a lot better," Ataru pointed out as he turned around, satisfied that he was presentable.

"I guess," his father replied. "You look really nice, son."

"Yeah, it's not bad," Ataru agreed. He glanced at himself in the mirror one last time, glad he had talked Lum out of the hideous tiger striped cummerbund she had picked out. This nice light blue-gray one complimented his white suit far better.

Mr. Moroboshi got carefully back to his feet. "Well, let's go see if your mother is ready to go."

* * *

"Yo!"

"Benten!" Lum exclaimed, turning around swiftly. "You made it!"

Mrs. Invader sighed. "_Hold still_," she admonished her daughter. At this rate she'd never finish putting Lum's long hair up.

"Sorry, mom," Lum apologized. Keeping her head still, she continued. "I'm really glad you could come."

Benten smiled. "I couldn't miss this," she replied. "Not even if I had to fight my way through the Uruseins myself."

Lum faked an exasperated sigh. "You're the same as always."

"Is that any way to greet someone you haven't seen in months?" Benten complained. She leaned in close and grinned. "So, you're actually ready to get married for real?"

"Of course I am," Lum replied. "We've already practically been married for years now."

"I guess," Benten replied skeptically, remembering Ataru's behavior over most of that time. "He been giving you any grief lately?"

"Darling's been great," Lum simply replied.

"The lout hasn't been chasing any skirts?" Benten insisted.

"No, he hasn't," Lum said pointedly, starting to get annoyed. "Benten, I know you haven't been around lately, but don't start in on Darling. He's not the same guy he used to be."

Her mother, still diligently working on Lum's hair, gave Benten a irritated glance as well. She appreciated that Benten was just worried, but she absolutely doted on her son-in-law and didn't want to hear anything ill said of him.

Benten swallowed. "Hey, I was just teasing you," she groused. "I figured he must have shaped up if he was agreeing to go through with this." She crossed her arms and looked around. "I'm surprised the nut ball and the ice queen aren't here yet."

"Ran-chan's around somewhere," Lum replied. "She's with Rei, so she's not causing any trouble."

"How's Rei taking all this?" Benten asked idly.

"He hasn't said anything," Lum responded. "I think Ran-chan's fed him enough that he's forgotten about me."'

Benten burst out laughing. "You make it sound like he's a dog. I guess he always was an idiot though."

"Ran-chan hopes that you aren't talking about her dear Rei-san."

Benten turned around slowly, not particularly afraid of the redhead's wrath. "Oh, hello, Ran, long time no see."

"Hi, Benten," Ran bit out. "I notice you didn't answer my question."

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to," Benten replied, meeting her glare for glare.

"Maybe you should stop talking bad about everyone," Ran shot back. "I notice you're the only one here without a date."

Benten cracked a smile. "I don't need some guy to hang off my arm," she quipped.

"Come to think of it, you haven't had a boyfriend in years," Lum pointed out innocently. "Why is that, Benten?"

Benten blushed. "I'm just not interested right now," she replied. "Hey, it's been fun catching up, but I'm going to go look for Oyuki." She hastily left the room, leaving the three in silence.

"Anyways," Ran finally said, "what's taking so long?"

"The ceremony doesn't start for another half hour," Lum reminded her. "What's your rush?"

"Rei-san's getting really hungry and I didn't bring anything with me," Ran said, slipping back into her extra cute voice.

Lum sighed. "Go talk to one of the reception caterers and see what they have," she said. Pausing to think for a moment, she gave Ran a look of warning. "Don't overdo it, just give him enough to keep him quiet. And if either of you touch our cake, I swear that I'll kill you both."

Ran smiled. "Thank you Lum-chan, you're the best." She quickly rushed off to see how much food she could wheedle out of the catering staff.

Lum groaned. "I hope Rei doesn't start acting up."

"_It'll be fine_," her mother replied quietly, still concentrating on her work. "_Your father will take care of him if he gets rowdy_."

"I hope so," Lum replied. Her eyes roamed over the clock on the wall. "Hey, do you know if Darling's arrived yet?"

Her mother frowned. "_I haven't heard anything still_."

Lum felt her stomach churn as a mini panic attack set in. "You don't think he would stand me up, do you?"

"_I'm sure he's just running a little late_," her mother replied confidently. "_Now calm down, I can't work with you shaking like that_."

Finally satisfied with Lum's hair, she sat down next to her daughter. "_Are you ok_?"

"I don't know," Lum replied nervously. "I'm just kind of worried something is going to go wrong again. Sometimes it seems like getting married to Darling is always going to be just out of my reach"

Her mother pulled her close, careful not to muss her dress or her hair. "_Nothing's going to go wrong_," she assured Lum. "_I know you were disappointed that we had to postpone the wedding a month, but I promise that everything's going to go nice and smooth today_."

As if on cue, Mrs. Moroboshi poked her head in through the door. "I'm sorry that we're a bit late," she said humbly. "You know how it is getting my son to wake up early."

"Darling's really here?" Lum asked eagerly.

"Yeah, he's off with his father," Ataru's mother casually. "You didn't want to see him before the wedding, did you?"

"No," Lum replied quietly. "That's supposed to be bad luck, right?"

"Some say it is. With Ataru's luck, I wouldn't take any chances."

Lum smiled. "Could you just tell Darling that I love him then? And I know he's probably really nervous, but make sure he knows that he's not the only one."

"Sure, Lum." Mrs. Moroboshi replied cheerfully. "Good luck," she added before ducking back out.

* * *

"Will you stop fidgeting?"

Ataru looked up irritably. "I can't help it. This is kind of nerve-wracking, you know?"

"You're going to get your shirt all wrinkled," his mother warned. "Just sit still for a few minutes."

Mr. Moroboshi laid a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. "What's there to be so nervous about?"

"I don't know," Ataru groaned. "I mean, what if I trip or something? Or drop the rings? There's a lot of stuff I could mess up here."

"Stop worrying so much," his mother replied. "The more nervous you are, the more likely you are to goof up."

Ataru gave her an anxious look. "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

"Dear, you aren't helping," his father told her quietly. "Ataru, just calm down. Do your best out there, and if you make a mistake, just ignore it and keep going."

"I just don't want to disappoint Lum," Ataru muttered. "We've had to change so much stuff already."

Due to the delay, they'd had to move the wedding indoors to avoid the now decidedly cold weather. Finding an intact marriage hall that was big enough for such an event had been their new challenge, resulting in the guest list being much shorter than originally planned. The couple had actually found this to be a pleasant side effect, preferring a more intimate affair to the huge media event her parents wanted. He was just glad that Lum's dress had been stored safely away at her parent's house, so she at least still had that.

"As long as you go out there and make it through this, I really don't think you can disappoint her," his father assured him.

Ataru sighed heavily. "That's my other problem," he murmured. "What if I don't have the guts to go through with it?"

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts now," Mrs. Moroboshi scolded.

"Not really," he replied mournfully. "I really want to do this. I've never been more sure of anything."

"Then what's the problem?" his father asked.

"Don't you think I've changed a lot lately?" Ataru asked them, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.

"Thankfully," his mother answered. "Just half a year ago you were still running around town like an idiot and driving poor Lum crazy."

"Well, how do I know I won't get bored just being with one girl the rest of my life?" he asked worriedly. "How do I know I won't go back to wanting to date other girls?"

"Ataru, you're impossible," his mother replied. "I would hope that you've grown up enough that you wouldn't think like that anymore."

"I think the fact that you're even worrying about that is encouraging," his father interjected. "That's something a lot of men have to deal with." He caught sight of his wife's glare. "Not me, of course," he stammered, "but it was pretty common among some of my old coworkers. In those cases you just have to think about what's more important to you, the happiness of your marriage, or some wild temporary urges." He patted Ataru's shoulder. "And it's no use worrying about that kind of thing. If it happens, I know you'll make the right choice."

"Thanks, Dad," Ataru replied. He hoped that he would be content with Lum forever, but it was still a scary thought, and one that he had been avoiding thinking about until now. He sincerely hoped it was the part of the normal jitters he all grooms had at times like this.

"Anyways, you'd better get your act together," his mother warned him, hearing quiet music begin to play. "It sounds like it's about time to start." She looked at her son for a moment, and then hugged him tight. "Good luck out there," she told him.

Ataru was surprised to see tears budding in her eyes. "Thanks," he replied.

His father patted him on the back once more, and then took his wife's arm. "Come on dear, we should go be seated now." He looked at his son one more time. "You remember what to do, right?"

"Yeah," Ataru replied anxiously. "We've rehearsed it at least five times already."

Mr. Moroboshi smiled as he led his wife out of the room. This wedding was going to be far different than the Shinto style events he had attended in the past. It was much closer to a western style wedding, though not quite as formal. Ataru shouldn't have too much trouble remembering his role.

* * *

"Hey, it's about to start," Benten excitedly whispered, nudging Ran urgently.

"Watch it," Ran growled back. Turning back to Rei, she smiled her most innocent smile. "Rei-san, did you get enough to eat?"

Rei, looking forlorn, didn't answer.

"You had better be sad because you're still hungry," Ran growled at him.

He shifted his eyes to her and imperceptibly swallowed. Ever since they had returned to Oniboshi, he had found himself on the receiving end of both of Ran's personalities. Still, she was rather cute both ways, and a great cook, so he didn't mind too much. "Still hungry," he simply replied.

She smiled and wrapped her arm around his possessively. "Good," she told him with a note of finality in her voice.

On Benten's other side, Oyuki subtly glanced over, wishing the three would show even an ounce of decorum. Not that Lum was much better usually. If she weren't about to walk down the aisle, she'd likely be whispering right along with them.

The minutes ticked by slowly. Oyuki idly watched Ataru's parents enter and take their seats on the other side of the aisle. She felt bad that they were the only ones in the front row on the groom's side, but there was nothing to be done for it. The son of two only children, Ataru didn't have any close relatives. Even if he had, it was still too dangerous for travel between Oniboshi and his home planet anyways. The invasion might have been halted, but Uru still reportedly kept up patrols.

Not that the rest of the groom's side was empty. Government and military officials, reporters, and friends of the Invader family filled most of the rest of the seats on both sides. This was apparently a major social event for the Oniboshians. Given the hard times they had all suffered through, Oyuki really couldn't blame them for wanting to celebrate the marriage of their princess. A few of her own subjects dotted the crowd as well, mostly former coworkers of the couple from when they had worked on the _Minokichi'_s restoration.

Thankfully the whispering died down as Lum's mother was finally ushered in and seated next to her sister in the front row. All eyes turned towards the center aisle as they waited for the groom to make his entrance.

* * *

Ataru stood ready to go, his nervousness reaching new heights with every minute that passed. It looked like everyone was seated now, meaning that the usher would be giving him the signal to proceed any moment now. He wiped at his forehead anxiously, hoping he wasn't about to start sweating. Cold as it was outside, the air inside the hall felt almost smothering at this point.

The peculiar oni wedding march music began playing. It was a lot different than the ones he had heard on TV, but still hauntingly beautiful. It appeared to be what Lum had grown up expecting, and that was what was important.

Realizing that he was getting the signal to get going, Ataru forced his leaden feet to start moving steadily forward. With all eyes upon him, he moved steadily down the down the center aisle towards the altar. It wasn't that far, but it seemed like he would never reach the end. Stopping once he had cleared the last pew, he turned stiffly back the way he had come. Though it had been annoying at the time, he was now grateful that they had practiced this so many times.

He watched the entrance nervously, knowing Lum would be appearing any second now. Out of the corner of his eye he caught both of his parents watching him, pride evident in both of their faces. His mouth turned upwards in a nervous grin as he continued to wait.

This was surely torture. Per Lum's wishes he hadn't laid eyes on her dress yet, and he hadn't seen her either since last night. He was glad Lum had at least relayed that short but sweet message through his mother. It was a bit comforting to know Lum was feeling the same way that he felt.

Ataru's grin slowly faded as Lum appeared. His mouth gaped open the tiniest bit as she made her entrance on her father's arm, his immense size making her look even more delicate in comparison. Her simple but elegant white dress dipped modestly down in the front and was beautifully accented with slightly flared shoulders. In her hands she carried a small bouquet of vivid blue flowers that he noticed matched her eyes almost perfectly.

He was suddenly glad the tradition of wearing a veil wasn't popular here. Her smiling face radiated pure happiness, and her eyes never wavered from his as she started down the aisle. He swallowed, his throat abruptly bone dry as she drew near. Before Ataru knew it, the smiling Invader was offering his daughter's gloved hand. Ataru reached out and tenderly took it, his eyes still intently locked on hers.

While Invader took his seat next to his wife, Ataru smoothly turned and walked the few last steps to the altar, hand-in-hand with Lum. As they took their last step, he felt her squeeze his hand gently before they hesitantly released their grip.

Lum smiled and looked down as she clutched the bouquet tightly in both hands. She glanced out the corner of her eyes one last time at Ataru before closing them demurely and directing her attention to the minister. The short and nearly bald oni was familiar; no doubt he was the same one who had presided over her last attempt to be married.

The minister smiled serenely at the two for a moment before begining his short speech. "We have gathered together on this day to bear witness to that most sacred of institutions: the joining together of two in the bonds of holy matrimony. It is indeed an auspicious occasion when a couple decides to swear unconditional love, loyalty, and faithfulness to one another. These vows should not be taken lightly, but with the highest possible esteem for the values they represent."

He paused for a long moment, then began to recite the vows. "Lum Invader, do you swear to love this man for the rest of your life? To stand by him, to cherish him, and to never part from him for as long as you both shall live?"

Lum opened her eyes for just a moment. "I so swear," she answered confidently.

Time suddenly seemed to slow down to a crawl for Ataru. This was it, the final chance to change his mind. He'd fought against this day for over two years for good reason. Lum had pushed his way into his life without invitation. She had tried to control him from day one. She could be extremely bossy and displayed an impressive temper when things didn't go her way.

"Moroboshi Ataru, do you swear to love this woman for the rest of your life? To stand by her, to cherish her, and to never part from her as long as you both shall live?"

"I so swear," he answered without the slightest hesitation. This was his decision, for better or for worse. Ataru knew in his heart that he was making the right choice.

"You may exchange rings," the minister told them.

Ataru fumbled the two plain golden bands out of his pocket and placed one in the palm of Lum's outstretched right hand. She set the ring carefully around his finger, and then held out her other hand for him to do the same. His hands shaking just the tiniest bit, he managed to slide her left hand glove off and place the ring on her finger as well.

"May these rings serve as a tangible symbol of your sacred promise to one another," the minister continued. "By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Oniboshi, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Let none tear asunder the sacred bond you have formed this day." He smiled warmly at Ataru. "You may now kiss the bride."

Well aware of the hundreds of eyes upon him, Ataru leaned in and closed his eyes, intending to just give Lum a quick kiss. Once their lips met, however, it was several long seconds before they parted.

* * *

Lum latched tight onto Ataru's right arm as they walked away from the altar. "I can't believe we finally did it," she murmured happily. "It's like a wonderful dream."

Ataru smiled. "I know what you mean," he replied quietly, still trying to recover from his bout of nervousness. He snuck another quick glance at her. "You are so beautiful."

Lum blushed. "You don't look half bad yourself, Darling," she replied.

They reached the hall's exit and found themselves quickly ushered into a nearby room to pose for pictures. Their parents and Ten's family soon joined them so that they could take a few family photos as well.

"I'm really proud of you, son," Mr. Moroboshi told him quietly while they waited for yet another shot to be set up. "You handled that perfectly."

Lum glanced worriedly at Ataru when he only responded with a smile. "Darling, are you ok?" He had been awfully quiet the last few minutes, and she hoped he wasn't having any regrets.

He looked up at her. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "I've just been kind of nervous all morning, and I guess it's catching up to me now.

"Poor Darling," she replied. "Well, after we finish up here, we can get changed for the reception," she assured him. "And then you can sit down for a while if you need to." She knew he was shy, especially when it came up public displays of affection, so it was no surprise that he was a bit worked up. Luckily she had insisted on the reception being a friends and family only affair, so he could hopefully just relax.

A few minutes later the photographers were satisfied, and they were all allowed to go their separate ways. Ataru retreated to another room to change while Lum's mother and aunt went with her to help her change out of her wedding dress and let her hair back down.

* * *

"I can't believe it's done," Lum commented as she changed into the tiger striped dress she had chosen to wear. "Darling didn't even hesitate this time."

"_We noticed_," her mother replied as she started carefully packing the wedding dress away. "_He's lucky, I think your father would have skinned him alive if he had chickened out again_."

Lum frowned. "That's not funny," she replied irritably. "Even if Darling hadn't been able to go through with it this time, I still know he loves me. That's what really counts."

Her mother chuckled at her reaction. "_It was just a joke. Your father likes Ataru a lot more than you might think_."

"He'd better," Lum growled. She smiled a moment later. "How did we look out there?" she asked curiously.

"_It was beautiful_," her mother replied. "_I thought I was going to cry a couple of times_."

"I saw a few tears," Tsuukai interjected teasingly. "I guess your little girl is all grown up now." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I hope Ten-chan finds himself a nice bride someday. But I guess it'll be a long time before he's even interested in girls."

"I wouldn't worry about him," Lum said. "He already had a bit of a girlfriend back on Earth after all."

"Is that right?" her aunt replied. "Ten-chan never told me."

Lum smiled. Her aunt was undoubtedly still unaware just how much of a ladies man Ten thought himself. The news that Sakura was finally getting married had made him depressed for days.

"Anyways," Lum continued, thinking it best to change the subject, "I'm really happy in a way that it's over, but I'm kind of sad too." She frowned and fiddled with her ring. "Is that normal?"

"_Perfectly_," her mother replied. "_I think everyone feels that way_." She finished putting the dress away and gave Lum a hug. "_I'm sorry we couldn't do the wedding that we originally planned_," she apologized.

"It's ok," Lum quietly replied. "It was probably for the best. I don't think Darling could have handled many more people being there." She finished putting her shoes on and stood up. "Alright, I'm ready."

"She's in a hurry to get back to her husband," Tsuukai observed wryly. "How cute."

Lum blushed. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, nothing at all," her aunt replied, standing up as well. "I'd better go make sure my husband isn't causing trouble."

* * *

Ataru and Lum entered the reception hall together. There were a lot fewer people here, and only a very few that Ataru didn't know. They were briefly greeted with cheers, but to their relief everyone soon began mingling and left the couple alone.

"Is that Ran-chan's mother?" he whispered, nodding towards a red haired woman chatting with his mother in law.

"Yeah," Lum whispered back. "Be real polite around her, Darling, she's a real bear when she gets mad."

Ataru grinned as he noticed Ran keeping a wary eye on the woman while still trying to fawn over Rei. "I'll bet." The only other person he'd seen Ran that nervous around was Oyuki in a bad mood.

Spying them, Benten came bounding over. "Hey, you guys actually did it!" she exclaimed, whacking Ataru on the back. "Nice job!"

Ataru winced, but managed to reply. "Thanks, I think."

"I'll bet you two can't wait to go off on your honeymoon, am I right?" Benten teased.

The newlyweds both blushed bright red and looked away.

"You should not tease them," Oyuki told her friend as she approached.

"Jeez, just having a little fun," Benten replied. "This is a party, isn't it?"

"Yes, I believe that it is," Oyuki replied without a trace of sarcasm.

"You're hopeless," Benten told her. "You need to let loose a little once in awhile."

"I am enjoying this occasion just fine without 'letting loose' as you call it," Oyuki responded.

Lum smiled. Her friends really hadn't changed much from when she had first met them in elementary school. She was really glad Benten had been able to come after all.

"It's a shame we couldn't have invited any of our friends on Earth," Lum said quietly to Ataru.

"I know," he replied. "I'll bet Shinobu-chan at the very least would have really liked to come." He frowned suddenly. "Hey, Benten!"

The Fukujin girl paused in her bickering with Oyuki. "What?"

"I just wanted to tell you, we got some letters from Earth a while back." He smiled innocently. "Ryuu-chan was asking about you."

"Ryuunosuke was?" Benten replied excitedly. "Really?" Noticing that she had everyone's attention, she blushed a deep red, then tried to act casual. "What did she want?"

"She just wanted you to know she was ready for a rematch anytime," Ataru said, trying to hold back laughter. From the sound of things Lum was trying to do the same thing. "Her father did want to know how much you liked his daughter though."

Benten blushed even harder. "I gotta go talk to Ran," she said, quickly dashing off.

"You are a master," Lum giggled. "I've never seen Benten that embarrassed before."

"That was truly impressive," Oyuki admitted. "Though it was a bit cruel."

"I know," Ataru replied with an obviously fake air of regret. "But it was worth it."

He could swear that he almost saw Oyuki laugh as she excused herself and went after her friend.

He took a look around the room, noticing that his father was already drinking it up with Invader and Hinoban. His own mother was off with Tsuukai, both of them fussing over Ten. He couldn't help but be glad that their families got along so well. It really did make things a lot more comfortable.

Ataru turned back towards his bride. "Well, Mrs. Moroboshi," he said as seriously as he could, "I guess you finally caught me."

Lum gazed into his eyes, feeling extremely lucky to have found such a wonderful guy to share her life with. "It took me a while, but I guess I did," she replied warmly. "Missing your freedom yet, Darling?"

"Nope," Ataru answered flippantly, giving her a quick kiss. "This is much better."

"Just think of all the trouble you could have saved yourself if you'd just stopped running from me in the first place," she teased him.

"Ah, but that's how tag works," Ataru explained. "When one person tags the oni, he becomes 'it' himself. You just took a really long time to tag me back."

"Is that so?" Lum mused. "So we've still been playing that original game all along, have we?"

"I suppose so," he replied with a grin.

"So does that mean I should start running from you again?" she asked, starting to giggle.

"Nah, the game's went on long enough," Ataru replied, his tone serious again.

"I think so too," she told him. "I guess it's a tie."

"Yep." Ataru suddenly looked over towards the large cake in the center of the room. "Want to go get a piece of cake to celebrate our victories?"

"Darling, that sounds wonderful," Lum agreed, linking her arm with his.

_The End._


End file.
